Why wages fell and profits surged in the EU

They are less than any country in Europe - if your argument is that the UK should abandon manufacturing then I'm sorry, I disagree.

There's international road haulage.
I sometimes have to send things to customers by DHL.
Their road freight service goes all over Europe (excluding Putinland).

I was addressing this point.

Its not, my argument is that you cannot artificially inflate wages in most cases by reducing the available work force. 

You can increase them by.
1, Making things that are in demand that others don't make.
2, Placing tariffs on products produced outside your country to make them more expensive. 

You are not artificially inflating anything - you are meeting the market rate for labour.

And the market rate for labour depends on supply of that labour - the more you have the less you have to pay and VV.

You keep repeating this iin the same way as someone learning 1 plus 1 equals 2 thonks they can do advanced calculus.

Wages depend on location...ie London weighting or lower wages in rural areas. Higher wages pushes the cost of living up which is why not everyone wants to work in London.
Wages also depend on productivity. If four people can do the work of five, you dismiss one and wages for the rest dont change.

Wages depend on competition. If a competitive centre of production opens up down the road, wages have to be adjusted accordingly.

Your overly simplistic formula for setting wages is only the first sentence of a long text on the subject.

Transport drivers made their decisions based NOT ONLY on wages but also conditions. That is why so many refused work that involved crossing the channel.
But if some were paid more to do so because others refused, their final wage would be eaten up by waiting times doo8ng paperwork and sitting in queues. Many just said no thanks, I'll take a lower wage and spend more time actually doing the job or being at home with the family.

Which is what happened. Wages on the continent hardly changed...only to account for inflation and energy costs.
But if they can do 50 trips a year on the continent, and only 40 if they have to stand and wait to cross the channel, they will take a lower hourly rate and end up better off.

There is a catalogue of reasons why wages go up or down. If we take your theory to its logical conclusion, a company doing advanced genetic engineering can only offer wages commensurate with the profits or investment available. The company cant offer huge wages to a tiny pool of scientists unless they can cover those costs. So the availability of top level scientists is only a small part of the wage level offered.

Widen your scope of understanding and move past the bleedin obvious.

If most of the sectors with labour shortages pay the National Minimum Wage ( care work - hospitality - catering - food production ), then how does the argument stack up that European migrant workers pushed down wages.

You legally cannot pay less than the minimum wage

As for truck drivers, partly due to Brexit, partly due to Covid, partly due to other factors including a change in regulations.

My original point about economics ... we have had very high levels of inflation, mostly due to rising business costs, mostly energy, but also wage costs.

Who do you think actually pays for higher wages in the haulage sector ?, you do, and I do, the costs are passed onto shops and supermarkets, and to businesses, pubs and other places where we all spend money, your loaf of bread and your block of cheese has gone up significantlly.

Who's actually better off