ESSEX is an historically rebellious county which will back Brexit in this month's referendum, a European politician claims.

Leave campaigner Daniel Hannan, European Parliament member for the region, locked horns with former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown during a packed debate on Friday.

Former diplomat and MI6 intelligence officer Lord Ashdown appeared to anger the audience at Richmond Hall, Benfleet, when he claimed the EU was was more democratic than the UK.

He added that there has not been a single wave of immigration which was not beneficial to Britain.

Speaking after the heated Castle Point debate, Mr Hannan said: “Down the ages, this county has been characterised by an admirable lack of deference and a determination not to let anyone boss it around.

“The Peasants’ Revolt began here, it was strong for Puritanism during the Civil War and was the heartland of the Parliamentarians - Cromwell recruited his Ironsides here - and in all of those conflicts people were resisting the idea of being bossed around by hierarchies.

“That’s why I’m almost certain, whatever happens in the debate nationally, Essex will vote to leave.”

Lord Ashdown, who made a swift exit after shaking hands with his opponent, said: “It was an absolutely fabulous debate, and you could feel the passion of the debate and the engagement.

“People were genuinely expressing their concerns and I never say people aren’t patriotic in their choices – people express the views they’re expressing and I might not always agree with them but I do respect them.”

During the debate, Lord Ashdown made the case that every international organisation had come out for the remain campaign, while the only world leader who backed Brexit was Russian president Vladimir Putin, who had been trying to split Europe for 20 years.

He added a vote for to leave the EU put the economic stability of Britain and the peace of Europe at risk, and called on the audience to consider how their children and grandchildren would fare in the event of a vote to leave in the June 23 referendum.

Mr Hannan said he discovered shortly after the local elections last month he and his wife were expecting their third child, and he wanted that child to grow up in an independent county which could hire and fire the people who create its laws.

He added controlling immigration outside the EU was not about "pulling up the drawbridge" but having a rough idea of who is coming into the country and in roughly what numbers, as well as weakening people smugglers taking advantage of the migrant crisis.