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As the struggling Tories convenes in Manchester for its yearly gathering, it has plenty to consider regarding its next steps. It’s not even clear if a clear direction exists at all. We are in challenging circumstances for a governing group that now has almost nothing, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the public.

What Could Have Been

The situation might have been markedly improved if concrete steps had been made on an agenda that matters to people nationwide: Social mobility. But the previous administration hadn’t got the first clue on how to convert his zeitgeisty rhetoric on levelling up into actual implementation. Over twenty-four months after the general election, it discussed what the term truly represented.

I was perplexed, because I had clearly defined for the Prime Minister what social mobility entailed when we initially discussed about it during the contest for party leader. The phrase was a term I developed and used at the Department for Education to talk about equal opportunity. This became our departmental mantra, and its definition is unambiguous: levelling up is the method by which we attain fair chances – without removing prospects away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by extending options to those that are without.

Essential Principle

The other key DfE phrase we used, “talent is spread evenly across our country, but opportunity is not”, served as a intentional wording, reflecting the two halves of a equal opportunity plan. To begin with, talent spread evenly but not cultivated evenly through our schools and colleges. Second, access not provided uniformly by businesses or our market. As a result, learning and employment were essential to achieving stronger social mobility. This was an priority about the community framework of our country – investing in people’s potential and connecting them to prospects.

The Reality of Implementation

How did the social mobility agenda turn into under the previous government? A towns fund managed by the DLUHC. Decorative floral displays and reconfigured roundabouts and roads. A white paper was released a significant period after Johnson became leader, which saw current strategies relabelled under the fresh social mobility slogan.

Consequently, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went unpursued, as well as all the improvement that it could have inspired – in investment, business, economic policy, revenue and in local regeneration. Additionally, in learning, including a tertiary education that has become a target for politicians of all stripes – even though it remains the strongest driver of social mobility for youth from modest backgrounds, personally, this country has had over the past 30 years. Possibly the only engine of equal opportunity, operating at scale.

Why Hope Matters

Ambition is crucial for our country to prosper. To foster ambition, there needs to be a believable feeling that hard work and results are linked; that if people aspire, they can achieve. For political leadership, being able to create a sense of optimism about the future is critical. Studies by the academic institution at Bath University and others, newly available, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I introduced as education secretary – locally targeted strategies to improving education outcomes – led to young people in those neighborhoods being up to a significant margin more positive about their life ahead than those in comparable communities without these programmes in place. The research confirms: just making an genuine beginning on equal chance initiatives can quickly and positively change how people perceive their future.

Missed Opportunities

Unaware of these findings, and in the midst of its new leader election, in September 2022, the ruling party terminated the programmes. Why would anyone in those regions vote for a party that took that action? The targeted programme is one example of what had the potential to be a game-changing Tory policy platform on social mobility, but that opportunity was totally misused. Approaches such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. In contrast, as the Conservatives learned, breaking the promise of equal opportunity is the biggest blunder any political party can make. Voters punished the leadership for its incompetence but, perhaps most of all, for its failed pledges on social mobility.

Today’s Political Reality

At present the responsibility on life chances and equal chances has been transferred to a new administration. The levelling up rhetoric has been abandoned. The current administration has its own political rhetoric of “breaking down the barriers to opportunity”. The political group that is increasingly displacing the hapless incumbents, the alternative party, also has its own language – “economic renewal”. This expression to talk about fresh prospects in areas like the one I was raised in, in my hometown. It promises that an industrial past can revive into an industrial future.

For voters, it must feel like a Groundhog Day-style loop. Same issue, different language. Yet, currently, little improvement.

The Way Forward

Whether the government and opposition want to escape the similar destiny, both these parties should understand the Conservatives’ failure on levelling up; that equal opportunity talk is simple terminology, but actual achievement of more equal results is significantly more difficult. Our nation’s persistently low life chances remains the primary challenge for our country, with youth unable to get a proper professional launch, those working hard in full-time jobs with little to show after the rent has been paid, and individuals nationwide without any real hope their next generation will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Elected officials can mention improved access however much they like. Yet where is the political group that has the thorough strategy on social mobility? None appear to exist. Whoever gets there first, prevails. Not only for their party, but, crucially, for a whole country that has desperately requires fair chances so badly.