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As the struggling Conservative party convenes in Manchester for its yearly gathering, it has plenty to consider regarding its path forward. Doubt remains if a clear direction exists at all. We are in difficult days for a political party that now has very little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the electorate.

What Could Have Been

The situation might have been so different if tangible progress had been made on an priority that matters to people throughout the UK: Levelling up. But the former leadership lacked the slightest idea on how to transform the trendy talk on social mobility into actual implementation. During the initial period after the 2019 election, it debated what the concept even meant.

I was perplexed, because I had previously explained to Johnson what social mobility meant when we first spoke about it during his leadership campaign. The phrase was a term I developed and used at the DfE to talk about social mobility. It was our guiding principle, and its meaning is straightforward: levelling up is the approach by which we attain equal access – without removing prospects away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by providing chances to those that lack them.

Fundamental Idea

An additional vital education department term we used, “ability is distributed uniformly around the UK, but opportunity is not”, served as a intentional wording, reflecting the two halves of a social mobility strategy. Initially, ability distributed uniformly but not cultivated evenly through our education system. Additionally, opportunities not spread evenly by employers or our economy. As a result, education and business were essential to achieving better life chances. This was an mission about the social fabric of our country – investing in people’s potential and linking them with opportunities.

The Actual Outcome

How did the social mobility agenda evolve into under the previous government? Regional development money administered out of the DLUHC. Hanging baskets and rearranged intersections. An official policy document was launched almost thirty-six months after the Prime Minister took office, which saw current strategies relabelled under the fresh social mobility slogan.

Consequently, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went ignored, as well as all the reform that it may have generated – in investment, enterprise, economic policy, taxation and in local regeneration. And, of course, in learning, including a higher education sector that has become a punchbag for politicians of all stripes – despite the fact that it remains the most powerful engine of social mobility for young working-class people, like me, this country has had over the past 30 years. Maybe the sole mechanism of fair chances, functioning widely.

The Role of Ambition

Aspiration is essential for our country to thrive. To foster ambition, there needs to be a credible sense that dedication and outcome are related; that if people dream big, they can succeed. For any government, being able to create a outlook of positivity about the tomorrow is crucial. Research by the academic institution at the university and others, newly available, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I introduced as education secretary – place-based approaches to enhancing learning results – led to young people in those communities being up to 18 percentage points more optimistic about their life ahead than those in equivalent locations without these initiatives in place. The research confirms: just making an genuine beginning on fair opportunity strategies can swiftly and beneficially change how people feel about their prospects.

Lost Potential

Oblivious to this, and in the midst of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in autumn 2022, the Tory administration ended the initiatives. What reason would someone in those areas vote for a political group that did that? The targeted programme is a clear case of what could have been a transformative Tory policy platform on levelling up, but that chance was hopelessly squandered. Strategies such as this can create belief and drive. Conversely, as the ruling party learned, failing to deliver of equal opportunity is the costliest mistake any political party can make. The public punished the government for its failure but, above all, for its broken promises on levelling up.

Today’s Political Reality

Currently the baton on life chances and equal chances has passed to a new administration. The old slogan has been cast off. Labour has its own public messaging of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The party that is steadily supplanting the hapless incumbents, Reform UK, also has its own terminology – “economic renewal”. This expression to talk about fresh prospects in communities like the one I was raised in, in my hometown. It suggests that an former economic strength can reincarnate into an modern manufacturing sector.

To the electorate, it must seem like a déjà vu experience. Same issue, new terminology. However, so far, no progress.

The Way Forward

Whether the government and opposition want to escape the identical outcome, both these parties should take lessons from the Conservatives’ failure on social mobility; that social mobility rhetoric is one thing, but successful delivery of more equal results is far more challenging. Our nation’s endemically weak equal opportunity remains the primary challenge for our country, with youth unable to get a decent career start, those working hard in employment with little to show after the living expenses are met, and citizens throughout the UK without any genuine belief their next generation will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Leaders can discuss improved access repeatedly. Yet where is the political group that has the complete plan on life chances? I see none. The first to achieve this, succeeds. Not just for their organization, but, more importantly, for a entire nation that has urgently needs fair chances so desperately.