LONDON—The U.K. government has agreed to change the question in its planned referendum on European Union membership after the country's electoral watchdog said some people found the original wording was biased towards remaining in the bloc.

The government had planned to ask Britons to vote "Yes" or "No" to whether the U.K. should remain a member of the EU. But the U.K.'s independent Electoral Commission said the referendum should ask whether the U.K. should remain a member of the EU or leave the EU, with voters responding either "Remain a member of the European Union" or "Leave the European Union".

A spokeswoman for British Prime Minister David Cameron said Tuesday that the government would accept the Commission's recommendation and would table an amendment to planned legislation that will pave the way for the referendum accordingly.

When asked whether Mr. Cameron would be disappointed to not be leading a "Yes" campaign, his spokeswoman said, "The prime minister's objective has always been to make sure that the question presented people with a very clear choice—and the question as recommended by the Electoral Commission does that."

Jenny Watson, chairwoman of the Electoral Commission, said that although voters understood the original referendum question, some members of the public and campaigners felt it wasn't balanced and there was a, "perception of bias." The Commission found that although the original question wasn't particularly leading, it was concerned with a perception that it would encourage voters to consider one response, in this case staying in the bloc, more favorably than the other.

Mr. Cameron has promised to negotiate changes to Britain's relationship with the EU and then hold a national referendum on membership of the bloc by the end of 2017. The referendum has raised concerns in the business community and in other governments that Britain could leave the EU, a move that some argue would hurt its economy and global standing.

Mr. Cameron has said he wants Britain to remain in a reformed EU. Among changes he has said he would like to see are restricting welfare benefits for EU migrants in Britain, giving national governments greater powers to block EU legislation, and opting out of certain commitments in the treaties which bind the EU.

The U.K. Independence Party, which says Britain should leave the EU to regain greater control over a range of policy areas from immigration to trade, welcomed the Electoral Commission's recommendation on the referendum question.

"I'm in no doubt that the Yes/No offering was leading to great confusion and that remain or leave is much clearer. That combined with a more explicit question is the right direction of travel," UKIP leader Nigel Farage said in a statement on Tuesday. Mr. Farage is due to kick off the launch of UKIP's referendum campaign Friday.

Write to Nicholas Winning at nick.winning@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 01, 2015 10:55 ET (14:55 GMT)