Rebellion from a Westcountry MP has failed to prevent legislation allowing schools to break free from council control being rushed through Parliament.

Andrew George, the Liberal Democrat MP for St Ives, voted against the coalition Government's flagship Academies Bill over fears it is a "hastily put together education experiment".

Mr George, who had previously voiced concerns over coalition Government plans to raise VAT, was the only Westcountry Lib Dem to vote against the policy being championed by the Conservatives.

His "no" vote will fuel further tensions within the Con-Lib coalition, which in the Westcountry has to date been largely harmonious.

The Bill was passed with a Government majority of 92, completing its Commons passage in an unusually short period and allowing a radical overhaul of the school system in England. The legislation aims to create the first of a new wave of academy schools, free from local authority control, to be in place in September.

More than 120 Westcountry schools have already signalled a desire to be transformed into academies, the centrepiece of Education Secretary Michael Gove's revamp of schools.

Mr George said he was worried about "the speed at which the legislation was being brought forward" and feared it would create a "two-tier education system".

In a statement issued by his office in Cornwall, he said he was also uncomfortable about "ploughing millions of pounds into a hastily put together education experiment at a time of public sector spending restraint". That the Bill came shortly after deep cuts to school building and refurbishment programmes also raised alarm, he said.

Earlier during the Bill's passage, Mr George was one of six Lib Dem MPs who rebelled against the coalition Government by calling for parents to be balloted if a school governor objected it to becoming an academy.

Passing the Academies Bills also paves the way for parents, charities and other organisations to set up controversial Swedish-style "free schools".

During Commons debates, Dan Rogerson, MP for North Cornwall, had expressed reservations about the academies proposal, saying the "jury is still out".

In the event, Mr Rogerson, along with the remaining Lib Dem MPs in Devon and Cornwall, voted in favour of the legislation. Mr George was joined in opposition by Labour MPs Ben Bradshaw and Alison Seabeck.

In further signs of tension growing between the two parties of Government, Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP for Bridgwater, was among more than 40 Tory MPs to sign a Commons motion protesting at plans to hold a referendum on voting reform on the same day as key elections in Scotland and Wales.