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While the existentially challenged Tories meets in its conference city for its annual party conference, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its future direction. It’s not even clear if a viable path exists at all. We are in tough times 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 real advances had been made on an priority that resonates with people throughout the UK: Equal opportunity. Yet the previous administration did not possess the first clue on how to turn his zeitgeisty rhetoric on levelling up into actual implementation. Over twenty-four months after the 2019 election, it argued over what the phrase truly represented.

It seemed strange to me, because I’d already told the Prime Minister what social mobility entailed 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 equal opportunity. It was our departmental mantra, and its definition is unambiguous: levelling up is the means by which we achieve fair chances – not through reducing chances away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by providing chances to those that lack them.

Fundamental Idea

The other key DfE phrase we used, “talent is spread evenly across our country, however access isn’t”, served as a intentional wording, representing the two parts of a fairness agenda. Initially, ability distributed uniformly but not cultivated evenly through our learning institutions. Additionally, access not provided uniformly by businesses or our economy. Thus, schools and companies were crucial to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This was an agenda about the social fabric of our country – investing in individual capabilities and providing access to opportunities.

The Reality of Implementation

How did the social mobility agenda turn into under the previous government? A towns fund overseen from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Decorative floral displays and redeveloped traffic systems. An official policy document was published nearly three years after the leadership change, which saw current strategies repackaged under the fresh social mobility slogan.

As a result, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went undeveloped, as well as all the improvement that it might have driven – in funding, business, financial planning, revenue and in place-making. Additionally, in schooling, including a higher education sector that has become a scapegoat for elected officials – despite the fact that it remains the strongest driver of upward movement for individuals from less privileged homes, including myself, this country has had over the past 30 years. Possibly the primary source of equal opportunity, operating at scale.

Why Hope Matters

Ambition is crucial for our country to thrive. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a believable feeling that effort and reward are linked; that if people aspire, they can succeed. For all administrations, being able to create a feeling of hope about the years ahead is crucial. Studies by the research body at Bath University and others, newly available, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I launched while in office – community-focused methods to boosting academic achievement – led to students in those neighborhoods being up to 18 percentage points more hopeful about their future than those in equivalent locations without these initiatives in place. The research confirms: just making an authentic start on pro-social mobility policy can quickly and positively change how people perceive their destiny.

Lost Potential

Ignoring this evidence, and in the throes of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in that period, the ruling party closed opportunity areas down. Why should any person in those areas vote for a organization that took that action? The targeted programme is a clear case of what could have been a revolutionary Conservative government agenda on social mobility, but that chance was totally misused. Strategies such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. On the other hand, as the Tories discovered, reneging on commitments of social mobility is the most expensive error any political party can make. The electorate held accountable the administration for its failure but, primarily, for its failed pledges on levelling up.

Today’s Political Reality

Now the responsibility on social mobility and fair access has passed to a opposition party. The old slogan has been cast off. Labour has its own policy language of “removing obstacles to success”. The political group that is increasingly displacing the hapless incumbents, Reform UK, also has its own terminology – “industrial revival”. It’s a phrase to talk about additional chances in regions like the one I was raised in, in my hometown. It suggests that an former economic strength can revive into an revitalized economy.

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

The Way Forward

Should the current and alternative parties want to avoid the similar destiny, the respective organizations should learn from the Conservatives’ failure on social mobility; that fair chance language is one thing, but successful delivery of more equal results is significantly more difficult. Our nation’s endemically weak life chances remains the key issue for our country, with youth unable to get a decent career start, those laboring in occupations with few results after the rent has been paid, and people across the country without any genuine belief their offspring will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Politicians can mention equal chances as much as they want. However, which party has the political group that has the thorough strategy on social mobility? None appear to exist. Whichever party succeeds initially, wins. Not only for themselves, but, crucially, for a complete society that has never needed equality of opportunity so desperately.