A FORMER Worcestershire MEP has hit out at controversial claims Turkey is set to join the EU - calling it a "disgraceful lie".

Liz Lynne, who retired from the European Parliament in 2012, says she fears many voters have already been swayed by claims the huge nation will be allowed to join the bloc despite its human rights record.

Earlier this month defence minister Penny Mordaunt said the migrant crisis would hasten talks over Turkey's EU hopes, and that Britain was powerless to halt it.

Her remarks were leapt on by the Leave campaign, which said it was "another reason for the UK to quit" rather than face a fresh migration explosion.

Ms Lynne, a Liberal Democrat West Midlands MEP who still lives in Worcestershire, said she is still angry about having to try and defuse it so close to the polls opening.

"It's disgusting how a lot of people are saying if we stay in the EU, Turkey will come in," she said.

"I've become increasingly annoyed about it in recent weeks, and annoyed that some journalists haven't pushed politicians on it enough.

"We have a veto on this, people are just using it as a scare tactic because they've lost the argument on the economy.

"So when they say '75 million people can come in when Turkey joins the EU', it's absolute rubbish, total lies.

"Turkey's human rights have gone backwards, they will not be joining the EU, every single member state has a veto on it so it just won't happen.

"I don't mind people giving an opinion, but when they blatantly lie they are misleading the public."

Prime Minister David Cameron has already responded to the claims by saying it would "literally be decades" before Turkey ever joined the EU, insisting it would need agreement from all 28 member states and each national parliament first.

Talks with Turkey, which first applied to join the then European Community in 1987, have stalled amid concerns about the pace of economic reform, its record on human rights and free speech as well the legacy of its 40-year partition of Cyprus.

It was deemed eligible in 1997, and formal talks for it to be part of the bloc kicked off in 2005.

But Leave campaigners say an agreement earlier this year between the EU and Turkey on tackling the migrant flow across the Mediterranean, to which the UK signed up, has injected fresh impetus into its membership bid.