If Gordon Brown is looking for opportunities to spell out his “vision”, he could start with immigration.

Not only does immigration consistently come top of voters’ list of the most important issues, rivalled only by crime, but Labour lags far behind the Tories as the best party to deal with it.

Mr Brown has responded with the misleading populist slogan about “British jobs for British workers”. Taken literally, that is both xenophobic and protectionist. It implies favouring British-born workers over migrants.

The Prime Minister does not, of course, believe anything like this. He is a strong internationalist, in favour of an open globalist Britain, welcoming free movement of labour as well as of goods. Insofar as the “British jobs” phrase means anything, it is, as Mr Brown often argues, that young British workers, especially men, need to be better educated and trained in order to get skilled jobs.

That requires a more rounded approach, however, covering not just the undoubted economic advantages to Britain of the big increase in foreign-born labour, but also the associated pressures. Consequently, you have to read both Home Office reports that appeared this week.

To focus on the problems, while ignoring the clear economic advantages, is as wrong as the opposite. The Panglossians on the Left are as one-sided as groups like Migrationwatch.

The service economy, especially in the South East, would be in a sorry state without migrant labour but, equally, that has created serious problems in some areas for housing, schools, health and social cohesion. That explains some working-class disenchantment with the Government, as Jon Cruddas argued during the deputy leadership campaign.

The numbers, coming from outside as well as inside the EU, and the impact have been much greater than ministers estimated only a few years ago. It is no good denying this. These numbers have fuelled hysterical reactions, as if inflows could somehow be ended. The real issue is one of fairness, both over who can come into Britain and what happens to them when they are here.

After all the earlier focus on asylum-seekers, and much incompetence, the Government is stumbling towards a more balanced approach, with a points-based system for entry and a single border force. Liam Byrne, the Immigration Minister, has accepted that, in addition to the benefits, “we have to take into account the wider impact on British public services”. That will affect the future of limits on Bulgarian and Romanian workers. Damian Green, his Tory Shadow, has urged annual quotas to cut the inflow from outside the EU.

The speeches and statements of Mr Byrne and Mr Green show that is possible to talk about immigration in reasonable, balanced terms. (Nick Clegg has incurred criticism within his own Liberal Democrat party for trying to address the issue.)

Such discussion is not only desirable but vital. The only way to counter an antiEU, nationalist mood is by specifically addressing public concerns, giving grants to local councils in areas of pressure. One of Tony Blair’s most effective speeches in his lacklustre 2005 campaign was on immigration, in Dover.

Mr Brown should develop, and, above all, publicly discuss, a strategy on immigration. Labour cannot ignore the issue.

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