Members of Parliament should be forced to declare their membership of a faith, and abstain from voting, on life issues like abortion and euthanasia, according to a Liberal Democrat MP.

Chris Coghlan, who represents a constituency in Surrey, told the Times that the recent debate on assisted suicide showed there was a “conflict of interest” for Catholic MPs and Lords that needed to be remedied.

“In the same way that if you own shares in a company and you’re talking about that company in a debate, you would declare that conflict of interest beforehand. And you probably would not vote either.

“I think it’s a major problem for parliament in that we have this bill going through right now and the actions of Catholic parliamentarians could have a material impact on that”, he said.

Mr Coghlan, a practicing Catholic himself, objected to his own priest saying he would deny him communion after having voted to legalise assisted suicide.

In response, Mr Coghlan said: “My private religion will continue to have zero direct relevance to my work as an MP representing all my constituents without fear or favour”.