LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister David Cameron pleaded with Conservative Party lawmakers on Monday to drop their support for a national referendum on Britain leaving the European Union, comparing the bloc and its economic crisis to a house on fire that needs everyone’s help.

Some 60 legislators in Cameron’s Conservative Party have signed a motion calling for a referendum on whether Britain should remain in the EU, leave it, or renegotiate membership, but the government has ordered its lawmakers to vote against it or face disciplinary action.

Cameron urged his party’s lawmakers not to vote for a referendum, saying the “timing is wrong,” given the economic crisis in the euro zone.

“When your neighbor’s house is on fire, your first impulse should be to help them to put out the flames — not least to stop the flames reaching your own house,” Cameron told the House of Commons. “This is not the time to argue about walking away, not just for their sakes, but for ours.”

Underscoring the emotion of the issue, after several hours of debate in the House of Commons, Conservative lawmaker Adam Holloway resigned his unpaid post as an aide to Europe minister David Lidington so he could vote for a referendum.