Managers in the construction industry have told Sky News they are struggling to recruit much-needed European workers following the vote to leave the EU.

New figures for the year up to last September show net migration has dropped by 59,000 to 273,000.

And while migration was a key factor for Brexit voters, the impact of the referendum can be seen at one of the biggest building developments in London where we were told 40% of the workforce used to come from eastern Europe.

Construction manager Gary Clarke said he is struggling to find suitable candidates and is now not receiving any applications from eastern Europeans.

He said: "I had ten interviews yesterday and only got three people who had potential to work for us and they were all English lads from Kent and Essex."


Image: Gary Clarke said eastern Europeans are 'very skilled and excellent hard workers'

Brexit supporters might think that's a good thing, but Mr Clarke says among British workers there are higher levels of sickness and candidates are not as well trained.

He says the sickness rate among eastern Europeans is ten times lower than that of their British colleagues, while UK workers also expect higher pay.

He said: "We simply don't have the amount of skilled labour to run large projects without eastern European help.

"And they're very skilled and excellent hard workers."

Andrei Paduraru works on the site in the Strand and came to the UK just before the EU referendum.

While some EU citizens panicked in the wake of the referendum, choosing to leave because of the uncertainty it brings with it, he and others at the site have a simple answer.

Image: Applications from EU citizens have dried up since the referendum, according to Mr Clarke

They will take their skills to other European countries if Britain becomes too difficult a place to work in.

Mr Paduraru says in London he can earn four times as much as back home. But it is an expensive place to live.

Asked what eastern Europeans think about Brexit, he said: "They say if England is going to kick us out we'll find another country."

Meanwhile, in Burnt Oak, north London, there is a similar sentiment among young Romanians who have jobs in the construction industry and in security.

One told me he will go to Spain, while another said he would move to Canada.

Cake shop worker Rosoga Loredana told me her parents chose to move to Germany instead of the UK - believing life would be easier there.

Asked if fellow Romanians still talk about moving to the UK, she said: "Maybe they don't want to live in a country where people don't want them or shout at them or look bad to them and where you feel unwanted."