‘I’m ashamed I voted Brexit’: Construction manager says industry will be ‘busted’ without EU work force ‘I’m ashamed I voted Brexit and I’ve got no reason why’

The boss of a bricklaying firm said he was “ashamed” of voting for Brexit during an LBC Radio phone-in on Monday, warning his industry would be “busted” without the EU workers he depends on.

Harry in Staines told LBC’s Shelagh Fogarty that he deeply regretted his vote to leave and said he would vote to remain in the EU if given another opportunity.

The boss of the bricklaying firm that employs 500 people said: “Half of my workforce are Eastern Europeans and I’ll be honest they’re the most loyal, honest guys you’ve ever met.”

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“I’m ashamed I voted Brexit and I’ve got no reason why, I can’t think now why I voted for Brexit.”

“Most of the guys have bought houses over here now and they’re part of the community and they’re good, honest, loyal guys and you know what the industry will be busted without them.”

He said struggles to hire or keep British staff as “no one wants to do construction work any more”. A significant number of EU migrants work in the construction sector in London, compared with other sectors. The Office for National Statistics said 28 per cent of construction workers in the capital employed between 2014 and 2016 were from EU members states.

Harry explained that for every 10 apprentices he had taken on only “one or two” had become full employees as they don’t want to work in the conditions, saying trainees had even said they would rather work in McDonald’s as it’s “warm and dry”.

He said: “I made the foolish mistake of voting Brexit because I bought [into] the Nigel Farage thing. I got dragged into it all but at the end of the day, we need these people.”

“I want a second vote, I do,” he said, adding that he believed that 75 per cent of people would vote to stay in if given another chance.

“I got dragged into the whole thing that we are going to save all this money and the country is going to be great,” he added.

A number of MPs from across Parliament have called for a second vote on Brexit, calling it a People’s Vote and saying it is the only way to break the deadlock in the Commons.

But Theresa May has frequently ruled out having another vote on EU membership, saying on Monday that it could do “irreparable damage” to trust in politics.