asked its members why. 58% said brexit. the industry had for years relied heavily on drivers from the eu. and as market researchers transport intelligence points out: numbers from the office for national statistics certainly shows certainly show a drop in eu drivers. there were 300,000 truck drivers in the uk at the start of the pandemic in 2020. 40,000 of them were from the eu. that number has now fallen by 15,000. crucially, though, 50,000 uk based drivers have left the profession, three times more than the fall in eu drivers. also, those eu drivers that did leave could have stayed. they may have left indirectly because of brexit, but they didn t have to. they may have left because of covid or other reasons instead. and look at this map. the uk isn t the only country with driver shortages. the countries shaded darkest have the highest number of vacancies.
despite the unmistakable message voters sent to westminster in 2016. 52% to 48% nationwide in favor of brexit. reporter: swinson the fresh faced leader of the centrist democrats is able to capitalize on the central issue of the re-election campaign, brexit. she s courted the 48% who voted to remain by pledging to cancel brexit altogether, revoking the article 50 process. no debate, no vote. this is a democratic election now and people can make a choice. and if they want to stop brexit as liberal democrats we re standing up from what we believe is the right position. do you just think you know better than them ? i respect them and i respectfully disagree. swinson s party is pulling a distant third nationally but hopes to do better after making a pact with two small parties who agreed not to stand against
each other in 60 constituency all to consolidate the main vote. caroline lucas is no fan of swinson s plan to cancel brexit without a vote. you want to send a message to 17.4 million people but you caroline lucas, you potty mouth. in my defense i didn t realize it was being recorded. so although i standby the sentiment. on his call and radio show host ian dale regularly gets an earful from voters who feel it s the political establishment and the country s elites calling the shots, not them. the people who lost the referendum can t really bear it. they think the people who voted for brexit were stupid, thick, racist, whatever. and they haven t come to terms with that result. and i m afraid i don t think they ever will. and it s not just swinson, dale thinks politicians of all
stripes have spent the last three years only pretending to move ahead with brexit. what they re actually doing is subverting democracy and it s a dangerous game they re playing. reporter: subtly it seems is no longer required. only one major party, conservative, has promised to follow through with brexit. the scottish national party has vowed to remain and the opposition labor party wants a second referendum. while swinson s odds of becoming prime minister are long. there will be lots of people that withdraw from the democratic process altogether. they will think what is the point of voting if the politicians and the elites in westminster don t respect that vote? that story from our scott mcclain who joins me now live from london. good morning to you, scott. question for you following your report.
and basically based on the worst-case scenarios they ve been presented with by their unions, and as a consequence a lot of people are upset and perhaps unnecessarily so if the government announces something less in the worst case. and we re looking at a live video of a very quiet train station there. jim bitterman following developments there in paris. thanks, jim. with less than one week to go before the u.k. general election, candidates are not wasting time trying to get out to vote. and that means ensuring voters know where they stand on key issues such as you know it brexit. scott mcclain reports for us from london. reporter: she s taking a big swing at brexit.