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While the struggling Conservative party meets in Manchester for its yearly gathering, it has much to ponder regarding its path forward. It’s not even clear if a clear direction exists at all. These are difficult days for a political party that now has little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to voters.

An Alternate Reality

The situation might have been markedly improved if concrete steps had been made on an policy focus that is important for people nationwide: Social mobility. But the previous administration lacked the basic understanding on how to turn his zeitgeisty rhetoric on levelling up into actual implementation. Over twenty-four months after the 2019 election, it debated what the concept actually signified.

I found it bizarre, because I had clearly defined for the Prime Minister what levelling up meant when we first spoke about it during his leadership campaign. The expression was a term I developed and used at the Department for Education to talk about social mobility. It was our guiding principle, and its meaning is unambiguous: levelling up is the method by which we achieve fair chances – without removing chances away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by extending opportunities to those that don’t.

Fundamental Idea

The other key DfE phrase we used, “potential is equally shared throughout the nation, yet chances are not”, represented another a deliberate expression, reflecting the two halves of a social mobility strategy. Initially, ability distributed uniformly but not developed consistently through our education system. Furthermore, access not provided uniformly by employers or our economic system. As a result, schools and companies were essential to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This constituted an mission about the social fabric of our country – supporting human talent and connecting them to opportunities.

The Reality of Implementation

How did the social mobility agenda evolve into under Johnson’s Conservatives? Regional development money managed by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Decorative floral displays and redeveloped traffic systems. A white paper was released nearly three years after the Prime Minister took office, which saw current strategies repackaged under the fresh social mobility slogan.

As a result, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went unpursued, as well as all the change that it might have driven – in funding, business, financial planning, revenue and in community development. Moreover, in schooling, including a higher education sector that has become a punchbag for elected officials – even though it remains the primary vehicle of upward movement for individuals from less privileged homes, including myself, this country has had over the past 30 years. Possibly the sole mechanism of fair chances, functioning widely.

The Role of Ambition

Aspiration is vital for our country to thrive. For hope to exist, there needs to be a realistic expectation that dedication and outcome are connected; that if people aim high, they can succeed. For any government, being able to create a sense of optimism about the tomorrow is important. Studies by the academic institution at Bath University and others, published last month, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I established during my tenure – place-based approaches to boosting academic achievement – led to students in those areas being up to nearly one-fifth more positive about their future than those in similar areas without these schemes in place. The evidence is clear: just making an sincere effort on equal chance initiatives can quickly and positively change how people feel about their destiny.

Lost Potential

Ignoring this evidence, and in the middle of its new leader election, in that period, the ruling party terminated the programmes. What reason would someone in those communities vote for a political group that made that decision? This specific initiative is a single instance of what might have become a game-changing Tory policy platform on social mobility, but that opportunity was totally misused. Methods such as this can create belief and drive. On the other hand, as the ruling party learned, reneging on commitments of equal opportunity is the most expensive error any political party can make. The public held accountable the leadership for its incompetence but, above all, for its failed pledges on levelling up.

Today’s Political Reality

Now the responsibility on social mobility and fair access has been transferred to a opposition party. The previous terminology has been discarded. Labour has its own political rhetoric of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The political group that is steadily supplanting the failing Conservative party, Reform UK, also has its own message – “reindustrialisation”. It’s a phrase to talk about additional chances in regions like the one I was raised in, in South Yorkshire. It suggests that an former economic strength can reincarnate into an industrial future.

To the electorate, it must seem like a déjà vu experience. Similar challenge, new terminology. But – as yet – no results.

What Must Change

Should the current and alternative parties want to prevent the same fate, the respective organizations should learn from the Conservatives’ failure on levelling up; that fair chance language is one thing, but effective implementation of fairer outcomes is much harder. Our nation’s chronically poor social mobility remains the key issue for our country, with the next generation unable to get a proper professional launch, those putting in effort in occupations with little to show after the rent has been paid, and individuals nationwide without any genuine belief their offspring will be able to do improve in life than they have.

Elected officials can talk about equal chances however much they like. However, which party has the party that has the complete plan on equal opportunity? I see none. Whoever gets there first, wins. Not just for themselves, but, significantly, for a entire nation that has never needed equal access so badly.