There is a shortage of skilled construction workers happening already. Plenty of labour around, but the skillset isn't there. That's a UK problem, not enough investment and training in the sector, not enough young people moving into the trades, not enough protection for small businesses or sole traders, too much corruption to make the construction industry appealing. I have a dd and a ds, ai won't be encouraging either to go down the same route as DH.
The influx of eastern European labour did temporarily solve the issue. The problem is they don't always have the skillset either. But they do have the manpower. They chuck shit work up, then move on. Then blokes like my dh get offered shit money to put the shit work right and don't get a fair crack at tendering for the new work as the ee gangers do it at half the rates.
Lots of the ee gangs around here are run by UK gangmasters as well. Treated appallingly and paid shit money, less their digs to live a hovel with another 15 blokes.
It's a deeper issue than 'the Romanians are taking all the contstuction work'. The whole industry is bent so far out of shape that even staying in the EU won't solve it.
And not all constuction workers are sun reading, beer drinking, catcalling bigots. Quite possibly not even most.