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While the beleaguered Conservative party convenes in its conference city for its yearly gathering, it has plenty to consider regarding its path forward. It’s not even clear if a viable path exists at all. These are difficult days for a political party that now has little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to voters.

What Could Have Been

The situation might have been markedly improved if tangible progress had been made on an priority that resonates with people throughout the UK: Social mobility. Yet the previous administration did not possess the first clue on how to transform the trendy talk on social mobility into actual implementation. During the initial period after the general election, it debated what the phrase even meant.

I found it bizarre, because I’d already told the Prime Minister what levelling up signified when we first spoke about it during the contest for party leader. This terminology was a concept I originated and used at the education ministry to talk about life chances. It was our core mission, and its meaning is clear: levelling up is the means by which we achieve equal access – without removing prospects away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by extending opportunities to those that don’t.

The Core Concept

An additional vital ministry expression we used, “talent is spread evenly around the UK, but opportunity is not”, again was a deliberate expression, embodying the dual components of a fairness agenda. First, potential shared equally but not developed consistently through our schools and colleges. Second, access not provided uniformly by businesses or our economy. As a result, education and business were crucial to achieving stronger social mobility. This was an mission about the societal structure of our country – supporting human talent and linking them with opportunities.

What Levelling Up Became

What did the social mobility agenda turn into under the previous government? A towns fund overseen from the the relevant ministry. Decorative floral displays and redeveloped traffic systems. A white paper was launched almost thirty-six months after Johnson became leader, which saw current strategies relabelled under the fresh social mobility slogan.

Consequently, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went ignored, as well as all the change that it may have generated – in funding, enterprise, financial planning, tax and in local regeneration. Moreover, in learning, including a university system that has become a punchbag for elected officials – even though it remains the most powerful engine of life improvement for youth from modest backgrounds, personally, this country has had in recent decades. Maybe the sole mechanism of equal opportunity, functioning widely.

The Role of Ambition

Aspiration is crucial for our country to succeed. For hope to exist, there needs to be a credible sense that hard work and results are connected; that if people dream big, they can achieve. For political leadership, being able to create a sense of optimism about the tomorrow is critical. Studies by the Institute for Policy Research at the university and others, published last month, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I launched while in office – community-focused methods to boosting academic achievement – led to students in those areas being up to nearly one-fifth more hopeful about their future than those in comparable communities without these initiatives in place. The data shows: just making an authentic start on pro-social mobility policy can rapidly and effectively change how people perceive their future.

Lost Potential

Ignoring this evidence, and in the midst of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in September 2022, the ruling party terminated the programmes. Why would anyone in those areas vote for a political group that made that decision? This specific initiative is a clear case of what had the potential to be a revolutionary Conservative government agenda on levelling up, but that possibility was totally misused. Approaches such as this can generate optimism and ambition. Conversely, as the Tories learned, breaking the promise of social mobility is the biggest blunder any political party can make. The public penalized the leadership for its ineffectiveness but, above all, for its failed pledges on levelling up.

The Current Landscape

Now the baton on social mobility and equal chances has been transferred to a opposition party. The levelling up rhetoric has been discarded. The current administration has its own policy language of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The party that is steadily supplanting the hapless incumbents, the alternative party, also has its own terminology – “economic renewal”. It’s a phrase to talk about new opportunities in regions like the one I come from, in the region. It claims that an historical manufacturing base can revive into an industrial future.

To the electorate, it must seem like a déjà vu experience. Identical problem, new terminology. However, so far, no progress.

The Way Forward

Should the current and alternative parties want to avoid the similar destiny, both these parties should take lessons from the Tories’ mistakes on social mobility; that social mobility rhetoric is one thing, but effective implementation of fairer outcomes is far more challenging. Our nation’s chronically poor equal opportunity remains the primary challenge for our country, with young people unable to get a proper professional launch, those putting in effort in employment with little to show after the rent has been paid, and citizens throughout the UK without any actual expectation their next generation will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Politicians can mention equal chances however much they like. Yet where is the organization that has the complete plan on life chances? I see none. The first to achieve this, prevails. Not only for their organization, but, significantly, for a whole country that has urgently needs equality of opportunity so desperately.