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As the beleaguered Conservative party convenes in its conference city for its yearly gathering, it has plenty to consider regarding its path forward. There is uncertainty if a clear direction is available. We are in difficult days for a political party that now has almost nothing, if anything, new or unique to say to the public.

An Alternate Reality

It could have been markedly improved if real advances had been made on an priority that resonates with people across the country: Equal opportunity. However the former leadership hadn’t got the first clue on how to transform his zeitgeisty rhetoric on levelling up into actual implementation. For the two years after the general election, it argued over what the term actually signified.

It seemed strange to me, because I had previously explained to Johnson what social mobility meant when we first spoke about it during the contest for party leader. The phrase was language I created and used at the education ministry to talk about social mobility. It served as our guiding principle, and its purpose is unambiguous: social mobility is the method by which we achieve equality of opportunity – without removing opportunity away from those who already have it, but rather by expanding chances to those that are without.

The Core Concept

The other key DfE phrase we used, “potential is equally shared around the UK, yet chances are not”, again was a deliberate expression, representing the dual components of a equal opportunity plan. To begin with, talent spread evenly but not developed consistently through our schools and colleges. Additionally, opportunities not spread evenly by businesses or our economic system. Therefore, learning and employment were crucial to achieving stronger social mobility. This constituted an mission about the societal structure of our country – investing in individual capabilities and linking them with prospects.

What Levelling Up Became

How did levelling up turn into under Johnson’s Conservatives? Local investment schemes overseen from the DLUHC. Hanging baskets and rearranged intersections. An official policy document was published a significant period after the leadership change, which saw existing policy approaches repackaged under the fresh social mobility slogan.

As a result, a broader social mobility agenda went unpursued, as well as all the improvement that it might have driven – in funding, enterprise, economic policy, revenue and in place-making. Additionally, in schooling, including a higher education sector that has become a target for politicians of all stripes – even though it remains the most powerful engine of life improvement for individuals from less privileged homes, like me, this country has had over the past 30 years. Perhaps the primary source of fair chances, operating at scale.

The Role of Ambition

Ambition is essential for our country to prosper. For hope to exist, there needs to be a credible sense that effort and reward are related; that if people aspire, they can attain. For any government, being able to foster a outlook of positivity about the years ahead is critical. Research by the academic institution at the academic establishment and others, published last month, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I established during my tenure – locally targeted strategies to enhancing learning results – led to youth in those neighborhoods being up to a significant margin more positive about their future than those in equivalent locations without these programmes in place. The research confirms: just making an authentic start on equal chance initiatives can swiftly and beneficially change how people view their destiny.

Lost Potential

Unaware of these findings, and in the middle of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in autumn 2022, the Tory administration closed opportunity areas down. Why should any person in those regions vote for a political group that made that decision? The targeted programme is one example of what could have been a revolutionary administration strategy on levelling up, but that possibility was totally misused. Strategies such as this can create belief and drive. Conversely, as the Conservatives discovered, failing to deliver of social mobility is the biggest blunder any leadership can make. Voters penalized the government for its incompetence but, above all, for its failed pledges on social mobility.

Today’s Political Reality

Now the mandate on life chances and equal chances has been taken up by a new administration. The previous terminology has been abandoned. The current administration has its own political rhetoric of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The party that is gradually replacing the failing Conservative party, the alternative party, also has its own language – “economic renewal”. This expression to talk about fresh prospects in areas like the one I come from, in the region. It promises that an historical manufacturing base can be reborn into an industrial future.

To the electorate, it must appear as a repetitive cycle. Same issue, alternative phrasing. Yet, currently, little improvement.

The Way Forward

If Labour and Reform UK want to avoid the identical outcome, both these parties should learn from the previous government’s errors on levelling up; that fair chance language is one thing, but actual achievement of improved opportunities is significantly more difficult. Britain’s chronically poor life chances remains the primary challenge for our country, with the next generation unable to get a decent career start, those working hard in occupations with few results after the housing costs are covered, and individuals nationwide without any actual expectation their children will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Politicians can discuss fairer opportunities repeatedly. But where is the political group that has the comprehensive policy agenda on social mobility? None appear to exist. Whoever gets there first, wins. Not just for themselves, but, crucially, for a entire nation that has never needed fair chances so desperately.