Two of Britain’s top referendum campaigners are set to go head-to-head at a Dartford town meeting.

Three local councillors – “fed up with the quality of the EU referendum debate” – have organised what they promise to be an ‘old fashioned’ public meeting to bring together both sides of the argument to put their case to local people and answer questions from voters.

Councillors Drew Swinerd, Jeremy Kite and Richard Wells have privately funded and organised the meeting, open to all local people at The Mick Jagger Centre in Shepherds Lane, this Friday.

The grassroots event has attracted two of the most prominent speakers in the whole referendum debate with MEP Daniel Hannan on the Brexit side, and former immigration minister Damian Green MP on the remain side.

Cllr Swinerd said: “Daniel and Damian are two of the most prominent figures on either side of this debate and I think they were rather attracted to the idea of going head-to-head to put their case in front of ordinary voters.

“They probably do lots of events with activists preaching to the converted but this is a civilised, open and honest debate designed to inform and answer voters’ questions.”

Despite the three organisers being Conservatives, they have promised a non-partisan, open debate with no favouritism for either campaign.

Cllr Kite said: “The referendum seems to have generated a lot of heat but not too much light so far.

“Voters are being bombarded with lots of rhetoric from both sides but we will be asking those campaigns to lay off the spin, put down their leaflets and actually listen to real voters and answer their questions.

“We didn’t want the event to be sponsored by any campaign, political party or group so we’ve put up the cash to organise it ourselves. We won’t be allowing party campaigning.”

The debate starts at 8pm. Entry is £4 on the door, and that money will be going to the Mayor’s charities.

However, places must be reserved in advance by emailing DartfordTownMeetings@gmail.com or visiting www.facebook.com/DartfordTownMeetings.