THE number of people who identify as English in Tendring has been revealed as higher than the national average.

In a survey from the Office for National Statistics, which covers all of last year, shows 50 per cent of residents in the district consider themselves English.

This was is down from 79 per cent in 2016, before the Brexit referendum.

60 per cent of Tendring residents, meanwhile, identify as British which is above the national average of 57 per cent.

Respondents to the survey were able to select as many options as they liked, from British, English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish or ‘other’.

The survey also revealed just 43 per cent of people in England identify as English.

A decade earlier, 77 per cent of people identified as English, while it was 84 per cent in 2004.

Nationally, the number of people identifying as English has broadly fallen over the last decade.

Sunder Katwala, director of the British Future think tank, said: "People’s sense of Englishness ebbs and flows. You'll see a lot of England flags in June when the Three Lions are competing in the Euros, and then they'll disappear again.

"We could do a lot more to celebrate English identity outside of major sporting moments, in an inclusive way."