Thousands of voters in Pudsey, Leeds, will be asked whether Prime Minister Mr Brown should hold a national referendum and whether they think the Lisbon Treaty – now being debated in Parliament – should be approved.

Ballot papers will be sent out next month by Yorkshire for a Referendum (YfR), the region's arm of the national I Want a Referendum pressure group.

The Government is still refusing to hold a referendum on the treaty despite mounting evidence it is little different from the abandoned EU constitution, on which Labour promised a say.

Last week an influential Commons committee concluded there was "no material difference" between the two documents on foreign policy while the chair of the Commons' European affairs select committee said the treaty paved the way for "a massive and fundamental" shift of power to Europe.

Victor Watson, chairman of Yorkshire for a Referendum, said: "We will be working hard on the ground over the coming weeks to make sure that people understand the importance of the issue facing us. This is a unique opportunity to really push the debate on the referendum forward and increase pressure on the Government. We hope that as many people as possible come out to vote."

Labour promised in its 2005 General Election manifesto to hold a referendum on the new constitution but that document was ditched after being rejected by voters in France and Holland.

Despite the Government's insistence that the Lisbon Treaty is significantly different a host of European leaders including Spanish prime minister Jose Zapatero and the constitution's author, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, have boasted it is virtually the same. Critics warn it paves the way for significant powers over criminal law, immigration and border controls to be transferred from Westminster to Brussels.

Mr Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband have both signed the treaty but it still has to be ratified by Parliament.

Pudsey has been chosen as one of the 10 places for a referendum because of its marginal status, being held by Labour MP Paul Truswell.

Independent vote experts at Electoral Reform Services have been commissioned to organise the £30,000 poll, with ballot papers being sent to all 38,000 voters on the public electoral roll next month.

Voters will also be sent information leaflets with offerings from both pro- and anti-treaty sides and be handed a freepost envelope in an effort to encourage them to take part.

Campaigners claim the 10 referendums will form the biggest public consultation on the EU since 1975 and hope to use the results to force Mr Brown to hold a national referendum.

Businessman Andrew Cope, chief executive of Zenith Vehicle Contracts, said: "The Government hopes that they can make this issue go away.

"They claim this treaty is different from the constitution rejected by the French and Dutch but leaders across Europe have admitted this is the same text as the constitution on which the Government promised us a referendum. They are now trying to go back on that promise. With this vote we hope to send a powerful message to the Government that the people want a say on whether more powers are handed over to Europe."

Stuart Andrew, Tory prospective parliamentary candidate for Pudsey, said: "This is about democracy. The people should be able to vote in a referendum when the Government wants to move fundamental powers away from our elected representatives to unelected officials in Brussels.

"I am glad that YfR has managed to raise enough money to be able to give the people of Pudsey a chance to have their say and I hope Pudsey's views will help to persuade Gordon Brown to hold the national referendum that he promised."