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While the existentially challenged Conservative party gathers in its conference city for its yearly gathering, it has much to ponder regarding its next steps. It’s not even clear if a viable path remains open. These are difficult days for a governing group that now has almost nothing, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the public.

The Missed Opportunity

The situation might have been vastly better if real advances had been made on an policy focus that is important for people nationwide: Social mobility. But Boris Johnson’s government did not possess the slightest idea on how to turn the popular slogan on levelling up into concrete action. Over twenty-four months after the 2019 election, it discussed what the phrase even meant.

It seemed strange to me, because I had previously explained to the Prime Minister what levelling up meant when we originally talked about it during the contest for party leader. The phrase was a concept I originated and used at the DfE to talk about equal opportunity. It served as our core mission, and its definition is straightforward: social mobility is the method by which we achieve equality of opportunity – not through reducing chances away from those who possess it, but rather by extending opportunities to those that lack them.

Fundamental Idea

Another crucial education department term we used, “potential is equally shared throughout the nation, but opportunity is not”, again was a intentional wording, reflecting the two parts of a fairness agenda. Initially, ability distributed uniformly but not developed consistently through our schools and colleges. Additionally, chances not distributed fairly by the private sector or our economy. Thus, education and business were crucial to achieving stronger social mobility. This constituted an priority about the societal structure of our country – investing in human talent and linking them with prospects.

The Actual Outcome

What did the social mobility agenda become under Johnson’s Conservatives? Regional development money administered out of the the relevant ministry. Street beautification and reconfigured roundabouts and roads. A government strategy was released a significant period after Johnson became leader, which saw existing policy approaches rebadged under the new levelling up banner.

Consequently, a wider fairness strategy went undeveloped, as well as all the improvement that it may have generated – in investment, enterprise, fiscal strategy, tax and in community development. Moreover, in schooling, including a tertiary education that has become a target for politicians of all stripes – although it remains the most powerful engine of life improvement for youth from modest backgrounds, including myself, this country has had over the past 30 years. Maybe the only engine of social mobility, operating at scale.

Why Hope Matters

Ambition is essential for our country to prosper. To foster ambition, there needs to be a credible sense that dedication and outcome are linked; that if people dream big, they can succeed. For political leadership, 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 – locally targeted strategies to enhancing learning results – led to youth in those areas being up to nearly one-fifth more positive about their prospects than those in similar areas without these programmes in place. The research confirms: just making an sincere effort on fair opportunity strategies can quickly and positively change how people feel about their destiny.

Lost Potential

Ignoring this evidence, and in the middle of its new leader election, in autumn 2022, the ruling party closed opportunity areas down. Why should any person in those communities vote for a party that made that decision? This specific initiative is one example of what might have become a game-changing Tory policy platform on levelling up, but that possibility was hopelessly squandered. Approaches such as this can generate optimism and ambition. Conversely, as the Tories discovered, failing to deliver of fair chances is the biggest blunder any political party can make. The electorate penalized the administration for its incompetence but, primarily, for its failed pledges on social mobility.

Present Circumstances

Currently the baton on social mobility and equal chances has passed to a opposition party. The previous terminology has been cast off. The new government has its own policy language of “removing obstacles to success”. The organization that is increasingly displacing the struggling Tories, the challenger, also has its own message – “industrial revival”. It’s a phrase to talk about additional chances in communities like the one I was raised in, in South Yorkshire. It promises that an former economic strength can revive into an modern manufacturing sector.

To the electorate, it must feel like a déjà vu experience. Same issue, alternative phrasing. However, so far, no progress.

The Way Forward

If Labour and Reform UK want to avoid the identical outcome, the respective organizations should learn from the Tories’ mistakes on levelling up; that fair chance language is easy to say, but successful delivery of more equal results is far more challenging. The UK’s chronically poor life chances remains the primary challenge for our country, with youth unable to get a decent career start, those laboring in employment with few results after the living expenses are met, and people across the country without any real hope their next generation will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Elected officials can mention improved access as much as they want. Yet where is the organization that has the complete plan on life chances? I see none. Whoever gets there first, prevails. Not just for their party, but, more importantly, for a complete society that has desperately requires fair chances so desperately.