A leading Tory Brexiteer has insisted quitting the EU does not mean the numbers of people coming to Britain will be slashed - and claimed Vote Leave never said it would.

After a bitter referendum battle dominated by immigration, senior MEP Daniel Hannan insisted the Vote Leave campaign had only ever demanded control and not a specific number.

The campaign, led by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, did refer repeatedly to the Tory manifesto pledge of getting met migration each year down to the 'tens of thousands'.

The publication of statistics at the end of May revealing net migration running at 330,000 exploded the issue of immigration to the heart of the referendum battle.

Tory MEP Daniel Hannan, pictured during the Newsnight clash, insisted Vote Leave had never promised a dramatic fall in the number of arriving migrants

Mr Hannan infuriated BBC Newsnight host Evan Davis with his claims last night, hours after the result revealed a sensational win for Leave.

Mr Hannan insisted shifting Britain to a Norway-style relationship with the EU that frees the UK from political integration but maintains access to the single market was 'feasible'.

And the MEP said this would mean 'free movement of labour' but not the right for EU citizens to gain other benefits.

An exasperated Davis said: 'I'm sorry we've just been through three months of agony on the issue of immigration.

'The public have been led to believe that what they have voted for is an end to free movement.'

Mr Hannan claimed the Vote Leave offer was about removing 'legal entitlements to live in other countries, to vote in other countries and to claim welfare and to have the same university tuition'.

Davis said: 'Why didn't you say this in the campaign?

'Why didn't you say in the campaign that you were wanting a scheme where we have free movement of labour?

'Come on, that's completely at odds with what the public think they have just voted for.'

Remain campaigner and health minister Alistair Burt claimed Mr Hannan's remarks showed Britain had been 'conned' into backing Brexit

Mr Hannan said setting total figures would always be a job of the Government of the day and claimed: 'We never said there was going to be some radical decline ... we want a measure of control.'

Tory health minister Alistair Burt - who backed a Remain vote - suggested Britons had been 'conned'.