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While the beleaguered Conservative party convenes in its conference city for its annual party conference, it has plenty to consider regarding its path forward. There is uncertainty if a road forward remains open. We are in tough times for a governing group that now has little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the electorate.

The Missed Opportunity

Things could have turned out so different if tangible progress had been made on an agenda that is important for people throughout the UK: Social mobility. Yet the former leadership did not possess the slightest idea on how to transform the trendy talk on levelling up into actual implementation. During the initial period after the 2019 election, it discussed what the term truly represented.

I was perplexed, because I had previously explained to Johnson what levelling up signified when we initially discussed about it during the contest for party leader. This terminology was a concept I originated and used at the DfE to talk about equal opportunity. It served as our departmental mantra, and its purpose is clear: social mobility is the method by which we achieve equality of opportunity – not by taking opportunity away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by extending chances to those that don’t.

The Core Concept

An additional vital ministry expression we used, “potential is equally shared around the UK, however access isn’t”, served as a purposeful phrase, representing the dual components of a social mobility strategy. Initially, talent spread evenly but not nurtured uniformly through our schools and colleges. Furthermore, opportunities not spread evenly by businesses or our economic system. Thus, schools and companies were essential to achieving better life chances. This was an agenda about the societal structure of our country – fostering people’s potential and linking them with opportunities.

The Reality of Implementation

How did levelling up turn into under Johnson’s Conservatives? Regional development money overseen from the the relevant ministry. Street beautification and redeveloped traffic systems. An official policy document was released nearly three years after the leadership change, which saw ongoing initiatives relabelled under the fresh social mobility slogan.

As a result, a wider fairness strategy went ignored, as well as all the improvement that it may have generated – in funding, business, economic policy, tax and in place-making. Additionally, in education, including a tertiary education that has become a target for leaders across parties – although it remains the primary vehicle of upward movement for youth from modest backgrounds, personally, this country has had over the past 30 years. Perhaps the primary source of equal opportunity, operating at scale.

The Role of Ambition

Aspiration is essential for our country to prosper. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a believable feeling that dedication and outcome are connected; that if people aim high, they can succeed. For all administrations, being able to instil a feeling of hope about the years ahead is crucial. Research by the academic institution 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 enhancing learning results – led to young people in those neighborhoods being up to a significant margin more optimistic about their prospects than those in equivalent locations without these programmes in place. The research confirms: just making an authentic start on pro-social mobility policy can swiftly and beneficially change how people view their destiny.

Missed Opportunities

Ignoring this evidence, and in the midst of its new leader election, in September 2022, the Tory administration terminated the programmes. Why should any person in those communities vote for a organization that made that decision? The opportunity areas policy is a single instance of what might have become a revolutionary Conservative government agenda on social mobility, but that opportunity was completely wasted. Strategies such as this can generate optimism and ambition. Conversely, as the ruling party learned, breaking the promise of social mobility is the biggest blunder any leadership can make. Voters penalized the administration for its incompetence but, perhaps most of all, for its broken promises on equal opportunity.

The Current Landscape

At present the baton on equal opportunity and equality of opportunity has passed to a Labour government. The levelling up rhetoric has been abandoned. The new government has its own public messaging of “breaking down the barriers to opportunity”. The party that is gradually replacing the struggling Tories, the challenger, also has its own message – “economic renewal”. This expression to talk about new opportunities in communities like the one I come from, in the region. It suggests that an historical manufacturing base can be reborn into an modern manufacturing sector.

To the electorate, it must feel like a déjà vu experience. Identical problem, new terminology. Yet, currently, little improvement.

The Way Forward

Whether the government and opposition want to escape the identical outcome, both these parties should take lessons from the Tories’ mistakes on levelling up; that social mobility rhetoric is one thing, but effective implementation of more equal results is much harder. Britain’s chronically poor social mobility remains the central problem for our country, with young people unable to get a decent career start, those working hard in full-time jobs with few results after the rent has been paid, and individuals nationwide without any genuine belief their offspring will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Leaders can mention fairer opportunities as much as they want. However, which party has the organization that has the comprehensive policy agenda on social mobility? None appear to exist. Whoever gets there first, succeeds. Not just for their organization, but, more importantly, for a whole country that has desperately requires equal access so badly.