David Cameron (pictured at Prime Minister's Questions today) wrote to the Foreign Affairs Committee saying he was too busy to find time to attend the committee before the EU referendum

David Cameron has rejected demands to be quizzed by MPs over the Government's role in Libya.

The influential Foreign Affairs Committee had asked the Prime Minister to appear before them to explain the UK's increasing presence in tackling ISIS in the north African country.

But Mr Cameron today wrote to the committee saying he was too busy to find time to attend the committee before the EU referendum.

His refusal to appear before the committee comes as the UK prepares to step up its role in Libya.

Around 100 British special forces troops are already in Libya helping to protect its current leadership and advising local forces on fighting the increasing IS presence in the country.

And last month Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told MPs that 'now is the time to move against' ISIS, which has seized a long stretch of coastline along the Mediterranean.

He said Britain could send planes and warships to Libya to help support the new Libyan government and said Britain could send combat troops into Libya in the future as he cannot 'rule anything out'.

Britain's role in Libya since it helped oust the country's dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, in the Arab Spring of 2011 has come under scrutiny over the last few weeks.

In a remarkable criticism of Mr Cameron's foreign policy earlier this year, Barack Obama blasted him and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy for leaving Libya a 's*** show' after the 2011 intervention.

Shortly after the US President's intervention in March, Crispin Blunt, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, asked Mr Cameron to come before it to give evidence as part of its inquiry into Libya.

In his response to the Foreign Affairs Committee's invitation to give evidence, David Cameron said he could not find time to attend before the end of the current parliamentary session later this month

Last month Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told MPs that 'now is the time to move against' ISIS, which has seized a long stretch of coastline along the Mediterranean

He wanted him to appear before the end of the current parliamentary session later this month in order to clear the way for it to publish its report on the UK's military intervention in the 2011 uprising against Muammar Gaddafi and its bloody aftermath.

In his response today, Mr Cameron claimed Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond had already provided the Government's evidence.

The committee said it will press ahead with the publication of its report without the Prime Minister's input.

Prime Ministers have traditionally refused to appear before the cross-party select committees of backbench MPs which scrutinise departmental policy, arguing that this is a job for individual ministers.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond (left) met Fayez-al-Sarraj (right), the new prime minister of the new national unity government of Libya in a surprise visit to the war-ravaged country last month and offered UK assistance in training Libyan forces

The north African country has been reigned by chaos since the 'Arab Spring' in 2011, opening up a vacuum for militias to exploit, with ISIS seizing a long stretch of coastline along the Mediterranean. Above, an ISIS car bomb that targeted a security post in Misrata, 200km from Tripoli, last month

Instead, they attend regular sessions of the Commons Liaison Committee, which brings together the chairs of all the select committees - and Mr Cameron will appear before the committee today to answer questions about the EU referendum.

In his letter, Mr Cameron told Mr Blunt: 'I am afraid that, for reasons I am sure you will understand, the pressures on my diary in this period will not permit me to appear before the end of the current session of Parliament.