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While the existentially challenged Conservative party meets in Manchester for its yearly gathering, it has plenty to consider regarding its next steps. There is uncertainty if a viable path is available. We are in difficult days for a governing group that now has little, if anything, new or unique to say to voters.

What Could Have Been

Things could have turned out markedly improved if real advances had been made on an policy focus that is important for people nationwide: Levelling up. But the previous administration did not possess the basic understanding on how to convert the popular slogan on social mobility into concrete action. For the two years after the 2019 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 first spoke about it during his leadership campaign. The phrase was a term I developed and used at the Department for Education to talk about social mobility. This became our core mission, and its definition is straightforward: levelling up is the approach by which we achieve fair chances – not by taking chances away from those who possess it, but rather by expanding chances to those that lack them.

Essential Principle

Another crucial DfE phrase we used, “potential is equally shared throughout the nation, yet chances are not”, again was a intentional wording, embodying the dual components of a social mobility strategy. First, potential shared equally but not nurtured uniformly through our education system. Additionally, chances not distributed fairly by the private sector or our market. Thus, education and business were essential to achieving stronger social mobility. This constituted an agenda about the social fabric of our country – fostering human talent and providing access to opportunities.

The Actual Outcome

How did levelling up become under the Tory administration? Local investment schemes managed by the DLUHC. Decorative floral displays and redeveloped traffic systems. A government strategy was published a significant period after Johnson became leader, which saw current strategies rebadged under the new levelling up banner.

Therefore, a broader social mobility agenda went unpursued, as well as all the improvement that it might have driven – in capital, business, fiscal strategy, revenue and in community development. Moreover, in schooling, including a higher education sector that has become a punchbag for leaders across parties – even though it remains the most powerful engine of upward movement for individuals from less privileged homes, including myself, this country has had over the past 30 years. Perhaps the primary source of equal opportunity, operating at scale.

The Role of Ambition

Ambition is vital for our country to succeed. To foster ambition, there needs to be a realistic expectation that dedication and outcome are linked; that if people aspire, they can attain. For any government, being able to create a sense of optimism about the tomorrow is crucial. Analysis by the research body at the academic establishment and others, newly available, showed that the education department’s targeted regions I introduced as education secretary – place-based approaches to enhancing learning results – led to young people in those areas being up to nearly one-fifth more positive about their life ahead than those in comparable communities without these programmes in place. The evidence is clear: just making an genuine beginning on equal chance initiatives can swiftly and beneficially change how people view their destiny.

Lost Potential

Oblivious to this, and in the middle of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in that period, the Tory administration ended the initiatives. What reason would someone in those communities vote for a political group that made that decision? The opportunity areas policy is one example of what might have become a game-changing Tory policy platform on social mobility, but that opportunity was hopelessly squandered. Strategies such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. On the other hand, as the Tories found out, reneging on commitments of social mobility is the costliest mistake any government can make. Voters punished the administration for its ineffectiveness but, perhaps most of all, for its unfulfilled commitments on equal opportunity.

Present Circumstances

Currently the mandate on social mobility and equality of opportunity has been transferred to a new administration. The old slogan has been cast off. Labour has its own public messaging of “removing obstacles to success”. The party that is gradually replacing the struggling Tories, Reform UK, also has its own language – “reindustrialisation”. This expression to talk about fresh prospects in regions like the one I come from, in South Yorkshire. It claims that an former economic strength can be reborn into an revitalized economy.

For voters, it must appear as a repetitive cycle. Same issue, new terminology. But – as yet – no results.

The Way Forward

Whether the government and opposition want to avoid the same fate, each group should learn from the Tories’ mistakes on levelling up; that equal opportunity talk is simple terminology, but actual achievement of more equal results is significantly more difficult. Our nation’s chronically poor social mobility remains the central problem for our country, with the next generation unable to get a good job beginning, those laboring in employment with few results after the living expenses are met, and citizens throughout the UK without any genuine belief their children will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Politicians can discuss improved access however much they like. However, which party has the political group that has the complete plan on social mobility? I see none. Whoever gets there first, succeeds. Not just for their organization, but, significantly, for a complete society that has urgently needs equality of opportunity so badly.