Ed Miliband did not mention immigration in his leader’s speech. But there was plenty of talk about immigration on the fringe, including at the Progress-Migration Matters trust event, Ukip if you want to: How do we make immigration work for Britain?

The trouble for Labour is that it is not saying what many voters may right now want to hear. There are apologies – repeated this year as last year, by among others the shadow chancellor in his hall speech – for allowing ‘excessive’ immigration from the widening European Union. But there is no tough new policy on, for example, restricting freedom of movement. David Cameron has dared where Labour did not. Labour is right not to take that path: it is easy to say that such restrictions are undeliverable; more than that, seeking them is a mistake in itself. It undermines the United Kingdom’s position in any other European negotiation and puts at risk the economic and cultural benefits of free movement across the single market. Our liberal market economy is among those best placed in all of Europe to reap those benefits. Competitive advantages should be exploited, not surrendered.

Instead of not mentioning immigration, Labour needs to make an argument about the system we have and the benefits it gives the UK and try to change voters’ minds. Broadly speaking, that is what the panellists at the Progress event tried to do. There is a business case for immigration, especially as the economy returns to growth and sharply increases its demand for skills. UK unemployment will fall further but we are nearing record lows and soon skills shortages will require immigration too. The panel also reminded us that a large slice of the immigration figures represents a major export strength for the UK: overseas students. Universities and local economies are forgoing income at the moment because of the chilling effect of restrictions and some of the most capable postgraduate students are having to return to their home countries rather than staying in the UK to boost discovery and productivity.

The argument for student immigration feels winnable. But winning the broader argument requires a more relentless approach. Rowenna Davis, the parliamentary candidate for Southampton Itchen, seeking to retain the seat that John Denham is vacating, made a telling intervention on that point. Ironically enough, Denham is a former universities minister but, like Davis, is on the ‘something must be done’ side of the argument for how Labour approaches immigration. Davis’ point, made perhaps tellingly from the floor rather than from the panel, is that she and her team have been knocking on doors for thousands of hours now. She did not sound hopeful that the argument is winnable on seaside doorsteps. Or that the panel had given her anything new to work with. Can the leadership do that? For now they show no inclination to try. The risk, despite the arguments made in this Progress panel, is that Labour shifts in the other direction, trying, like David Cameron, to shoot Ukip’s fox.

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If you missed Ukip if you want to: How do we make immigration work for Britain? at Labour party conference you can catch up with the discussion here

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Emran Mian is director of the Social Market Foundation. He tweets @EmranMian