Two in three people believe the European Union is attempting to “bully” the UK in the Brexit negotiations, according to a new poll.

A survey carried out for the Telegraph reveals that while the split of Leave and Remain voters is largely unchanged since the referendum, 67 per cent of individuals, regardless of their voting preference, agreed that “the EU is trying to bully the UK” in its approach to the talks.

The figures come after several senior pro-Europe figures warned that a growing perception of an “excessively tough” attitude by EU leaders threatened the appetite among British voters for future co-operation with Brussels in areas such as the economy, security and research.

The findings, from an ORB International poll of more than 2,000 people, appear to bear out the claims about the perception of Brussels’ handling of the talks, before the two sides have begun substantive negotiations on key issues such as trade and immigration.

Figures from ORB’s Brexit tracker survey show that 64 per cent of people believe Britain will have more control over immigration after Brexit.

According to the poll, 31 per cent of voters "agreed" with the statement “the EU is trying to bully the UK in the Brexit negotiations”, with 36 per cent saying they "strongly agreed". Some 11 per cent said they "disagreed", while 6 per cent said they "strongly disagreed". If a referendum took place tomorrow 53 per cent said they would vote Leave, compared with 47 per cent who supported Remain – a slight change from the 2016 result of 52 per cent and 48 per cent.

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On Sunday, in an attempt to kick-start the debate over Britain’s post-Brexit immigration policy, Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader and Work and Pensions Secretary, publishes a paper revealing that EU migrants claimed £4 billion a year in benefits, as he warns of the problem of workers taking jobs “where their income alone would not be able to sustain them in the UK”.

Mr Duncan Smith sets out “key objectives” that should form part of plans to “take back control of migration from the EU”. They include making EU nationals part of the existing work permit system for non-EU workers, as well as ensuring individuals “secure employment before entering the country” and “have no access to income, family or housing benefits for a set period”.

Meanwhile, migrants from 10 European countries, most of them in Eastern Europe, receive more than 20 per cent of their income tax and national insurance contributions back in tax credits and child benefit, compared to a UK average of around 16 per cent, according to the figures.

A 2016 study by University College London found that immigrants who arrived in the UK after 2000 contributed £1.34 for every £1 they received from the public purse.