Signs of split are emerging inside the British Conservative Party over Prime Minister David Cameron’s demands for EU reforms. 

Reports say a senior lawmaker has announced that he wants to quit the bloc and another hinting at a top-level rebellion.

Liam Fox, who served as a defence secretary under Cameron, has declared his allegiance to the campaign to leave the EU, saying it was time to "end the pretence" that Europe would change to accommodate Britain.

"The fact that a British prime minister has been in effect forced to take the political begging bowl around European capitals in order to make the laws he believes are necessary for Britain is the best possible demonstration of the problem," Fox wrote in an article for the Sunday Times newspaper, Reuters reported.

Steve Baker, the lawmaker behind the Eurosceptic movement Conservatives for Britain, has said that he thought more than half the party was "strongly leaning to leave" - including several members of Cameron's cabinet.

"It's inevitable that some members of the cabinet would have to resign if they're browbeaten into supporting a deal that is honestly this flimsy," Baker told Sky television, urging Cameron to give them the freedom to campaign for an exit if they wished.

The comments came after Cameron met fellow European leaders on Thursday to discuss his demands for changes to Britain's ties with Brussels.

He won political agreement to find a solution before Britain holds a referendum on whether to remain in the EU by the end of 2017, but is likely to have to accept a compromise on plans to curb migration.