Remove, or don't remove, wallpaper from dry-lined internal walls: best practice?

I'm getting a huge amount of conflicting advice on what to do here. I have a house whose walls were never plastered. Apparently, it was the style once to put the wallpaper directly on to plasterboard, and in the decades since that wallpaper has been repainted numerous times. I want to remove the wallpaper as it's fairly hideous. I intend to then skim it.

I have been told that I can plaster/skim over the wallpaper and it will be fine. I've also been told that removing the wallpaper would damage the plasterboard (because of wet etc) but many others have said that not removing the wallpaper will affect the plaster over time. Is there any national standard or recommendation for the best way to proceed here? Thanks.