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While the beleaguered Conservative party convenes in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has much to ponder regarding its path forward. There is uncertainty if a viable path is available. We are in tough times for a political party that now has little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the public.

What Could Have Been

Things could have turned out markedly improved if concrete steps had been made on an policy focus that matters to people across the country: Levelling up. Yet Boris Johnson’s government hadn’t got the basic understanding on how to convert the popular slogan on levelling up into concrete action. Over twenty-four months after the general election, it discussed what the term actually signified.

It seemed strange to me, because I had previously explained to the Prime Minister what levelling up meant when we initially discussed about it during his leadership campaign. The phrase was language I created and used at the Department for Education to talk about equal opportunity. It was our departmental mantra, and its meaning is clear: social mobility is the approach by which we attain equality of opportunity – not by taking opportunity away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by extending opportunities to those that lack them.

The Core Concept

An additional vital education department term we used, “potential is equally shared around the UK, but opportunity is not”, served as a deliberate expression, reflecting the two halves of a social mobility strategy. First, talent spread evenly but not nurtured uniformly through our education system. Additionally, access not provided uniformly by the private sector or our economy. As a result, learning and employment were essential to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This was an agenda about the social fabric of our country – fostering individual capabilities and providing access to chances.

The Reality of Implementation

What did levelling up evolve into under the previous government? Local investment schemes managed by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Hanging baskets and rearranged intersections. An official policy document was published a significant period after the Prime Minister took office, which saw ongoing initiatives relabelled under the new levelling up banner.

Consequently, a wider fairness strategy went undeveloped, as well as all the reform that it could have inspired – in funding, business, economic policy, revenue and in place-making. Moreover, in learning, including a university system that has become a scapegoat for leaders across parties – even though it remains the most powerful engine of social mobility for young working-class people, including myself, this country has had in recent decades. Perhaps the only engine of fair chances, functioning widely.

The Importance of Aspiration

Aspiration is essential for our country to thrive. To foster ambition, there needs to be a believable feeling that dedication and outcome are related; that if people aim high, they can achieve. For political leadership, being able to instil a sense of optimism about the future is important. Studies by the Institute for Policy Research at the academic establishment and others, published last month, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I introduced as education secretary – community-focused methods to boosting academic achievement – led to youth in those communities being up to a significant margin more hopeful about their prospects than those in comparable communities without these programmes in place. The evidence is clear: just making an sincere effort on fair opportunity strategies can swiftly and beneficially change how people view their destiny.

Missed Opportunities

Ignoring this evidence, and in the throes of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in September 2022, the Conservative government ended the initiatives. Why would anyone in those areas vote for a organization that did that? The opportunity areas policy is a single instance of what could have been a revolutionary Conservative government agenda on social mobility, but that opportunity was completely wasted. Strategies such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. On the other hand, as the Tories found out, breaking the promise of fair chances is the most expensive error any leadership can make. Voters punished the administration for its failure but, primarily, for its unfulfilled commitments on social mobility.

Present Circumstances

Now the responsibility on social mobility and fair access has passed to a new administration. The old slogan has been abandoned. Labour has its own policy language of “breaking down the barriers to opportunity”. The party that is increasingly displacing the struggling incumbents, the alternative party, also has its own message – “reindustrialisation”. The terminology to talk about additional chances in regions like the one I was raised in, in my hometown. It claims that an industrial past can revive into an modern manufacturing sector.

For voters, it must appear as a déjà vu experience. Similar challenge, different language. However, so far, no progress.

Lessons for the Future

If Labour and Reform UK want to avoid the identical outcome, each group should understand the Conservatives’ failure on social mobility; that equal opportunity talk is one thing, but actual achievement of improved opportunities is significantly more difficult. Britain’s endemically weak equal opportunity remains the central problem for our country, with the next generation unable to get a proper professional launch, those laboring in full-time jobs with few results after the rent has been paid, and people across the country without any actual expectation their children will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Leaders can discuss improved access however much they like. However, which party has the organization that has the thorough strategy on social mobility? None appear to exist. The first to achieve this, succeeds. Not only for their party, but, significantly, for a whole country that has urgently needs fair chances so urgently.