Former Chancellor of the Exchequer and Blaby MP, Lord Nigel Lawson, has called for the UK to leave the European Union.
Writing in the Times, he said there was now a "clear" case for withdrawal and the advantages "would substantially outweigh the costs".
He is the most senior Tory figure to call for the UK to quit the EU and said Prime Minister David Cameron's plan's to renegotiate better terms for the UK would only lead to "inconsequential" concessions from Brussels.
However, Downing Street said the prime minister was still "confident" his strategy "will deliver results".
Lord Lawson, Margaret Thatcher's long-serving chancellor, was Conservative MP for Blaby from February 1974 to April 1992. He is the father of domestic goddess Nigella Lawson and Dominic Lawson, former editor of The Sunday Telegraph.
