What can i do about my controlling boyfriend?

My boyfriend and I have been together for over 2 years now, we're both 20 and I love him more than anything. He works and I'm at uni. He's my first real boyfriend. The thing is he is a very controlling person, he has to control everything in his life...

otherwise he feels helpless. That means he trys to control me. I try to stand my ground and just tell him to basically f**k off if he trys to control me but it can get so hard and it's so emotionally draining. A lot of the time now I just give in to have an easy life.
I have told him many times that he's a controlling person and he knows that he his, he always says he will do something about it but he just can't help himself. I've tried to help him by proving that he can trust me, and I'm sure he does trust me it's just he feels insecure. We both come from completely different lives, he grew up on a council estate with very little money and I grew up in nice area. All he does is argue with his family and I never argue with my family. My family tend to talk things through instead of argueing. I think maybe that we've just grown up so differently that we find it hard to understand each other sometimes.
I never used to be worried about his behaviour but recently I have noticed that because he feels crap, im sure hes trying to make me feel crap to make himself feel better. It's not fair on me, I've felt like he doesn't fancy me the way he used to. He would rather see his friends/play the computer than spend quality time with me. He has also started lying about things, he tells me things to keep me happy. He says he's not going for a night out then he does, then he says he's bought me a present because he feels bad but he hasnt. It's like he doesn't understand me anymore, he's turned me into this controlling girlfriend when im not. I would love for him to do what he wants as long as hes honest about it, and I dont care about getting gifts.
I just dont know what to do, I dont know whether we're just drifting apart or if there's anything I can do to salvage it. I would be heart broken if we broke up because I do love him so much.
Any advice please?