David Cameron has issued impassioned appeal to voters not to give up on the European Union but "stay and fight" Britain's corner in the way that had made the country great in the past.

As campaigning in the referendum resumed after being suspended following the death of Labour MP Jo Cox, the Prime Minister said it would be a "tragedy" if the country voted to leave the EU, wrecking future job prospects, on the basis of the false claims of the Out camp.

Appearing in front of a BBC Question Time audience in Milton Keynes, he said a vote for Brexit on Thursday would be "irreversible" as he urged people to "think very carefully" before casting their votes.

He was clearly stung by one man in the audience who likened him to a "21st century Neville Chamberlain waving a piece of paper in the air saying to the public 'I have this promise'" - a reference to the pre-war appeasement of Hitler.

Mr Cameron flatly rejected the comparison of the EU to a "dictatorship" and evoked the wartime spirit of Winston Churchill to urge voters to carry on the fight for British values within Europe.

"If we choose to leave, we can leave but let's be clear if we do leave we are walking out the door, we are quitting, we are giving up on this organisation which even if we leave will have a huge effect on our lives, our children, on our opportunities, on our businesses," he said .

"I don't think Britain at the end is a quitter. I think we stay and fight. That is what we should do. That is what made our country great and that's how it will be great in the future.

"At my office I sit two yards away from the Cabinet Room where Winston Churchill decided in May 1940 to fight on against Hitler - the best and greatest decision anyone has made in our country

"He didn't want to be alone, he wanted to be fighting with the French and with the Poles and with the others but he didn't quit. He didn't quit on Europe, he didn't quit on European democracy, he didn't quit on European freedom.

"We want to fight for those things today. You can't win, you can't fight, if you are not in the room. You can't win a football match if you are not on the pitch."