As new statistics published by the ONS show another drop in the number of people coming to the UK from the EU to work, remember the government’s immigration white paper? It was originally due to appear over a year ago – but like so many other decisions, remains a casualty of Westminster disagreement and delay. The latest promise is that it will finally be unveiled in the “autumn”, a vague date meaning any time before December, provided warring ministers can agree on its details and publication.

For businesses across the UK, who have spent over a year in the dark about immigration rules and costs they’ll face, this unconscionable delay makes it impossible to plan with confidence. We have been told to wait for the outcome of Brexit negotiations – since so many of the questions about future business conditions are tied up in the presently stalled talks with Brussels.

Yet the UK’s post-Brexit immigration policy is almost entirely within the government’s own hands. If Brexit means taking back control, it should also mean that the government can design and deliver new rules swiftly and clearly.

A bold immigration policy is an area where the government has had a golden opportunity to give firms across the country greater confidence to invest, hire, train and expand. Instead, it has turned into a quagmire, and frustrated business and community leaders feel the government has failed repeatedly to deliver.

The current lack of clarity on the UK’s future migration policy is having serious repercussions. Since the Brexit referendum there has been a clear and significant decrease in the number of EU citizens coming to work in the UK – and a significant increase in the number of vacancies our firms just can’t fill.

The steep fall in migrant numbers over the past two years is no cause for celebration. Instead, it is a danger for businesses, communities and jobs across the country – and poses serious risks to the wider economy.

It’s worth reiterating what the evidence tells us. Businesses look to local and national labour markets first for the skills and labour they need. But across the country, in companies of all sizes and sectors, labour shortages are starting to bite. In agriculture, hospitality and the care industries, for example, firms from Ipswich to Inverness report that there aren’t enough locals who can or want to do the jobs.

All of us in business must admit that, in recent years, many employers have not done enough to keep the skills of their workforce up to scratch, or worked with local schools and colleges. Today, however, civic-minded firms are investing more than ever in training and developing people to fill widespread skills gaps. Yet this cannot be achieved overnight. With a tightening labour market, and over 70% of businesses struggling to fill job vacancies, access to migrant labour remains a genuine necessity. Adding more barriers, delays and bureaucracy to the system will only exacerbate the problem, jeopardise jobs and increase the cost of goods and services for us all.

And we don’t just need the “best and brightest”, as some in government repeatedly and wrongly suggest. We also need the fruit pickers, machinists, lorry drivers, sales representatives and hospitality staff. We need the doctors, nurses and care workers that help our communities thrive.

That’s why the post-Brexit migration system needs to work for the whole economy, not just for universities, hi-tech firms and big city services firms.

Where’s the sense in setting arbitrary targets and salary thresholds that deny growing businesses in all parts of the country access to the technical and engineering skills they need to improve their productivity and competitiveness? Where’s the sense in closing the door to lower-skilled people – meaning that food rots on farms, or that struggling restaurants, hotels and other high street stalwarts are forced to close? It would be an unmitigated disaster if European workers were simply lumped into the complex, costly and loathed work permit system that presently faces firms who attempt to recruit from outside the EU.

Since the referendum there has been much talk about the importance of British sovereignty and the power to decide who enters the country. But having control over our borders doesn’t mean closing them. A clear and fair migration system – with less bureaucracy and cost across the board – would be of far greater value, not just to corporate bottom lines, but to the communities that depend on the jobs and prosperity that business success creates.

As the UK leaves the European Union, we can’t just pull up the drawbridge and look inward. Across Europe and around the world, our government is sending ambitious, hard-working people who admire the United Kingdom the wrong message – that Britain is no longer a great place to work, put down roots or do business. There is no time to lose if we are to correct the mistaken, but growing impression that the UK is no longer the place to be. When it comes to clear immigration rules, kicking the can further down the road, blaming the busy party conference season or EU negotiations for further delays won’t cut it any longer.

Now is the time for Downing Street to listen to the clamour from those in her cabinet and the world of business for a credible, liberal and fair blueprint for future immigration policy. The government must ditch its arbitrary targets and hostile rhetoric and deliver a set of immigration rules that keep Britain working.

Prime minister: don’t you think businesses, universities and our public services have waited long enough?

• Dr Adam Marshall is director general of the British Chambers of Commerce