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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 next steps. Doubt remains if a road forward is available. We are in challenging circumstances for a political party that now has very little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the public.

An Alternate Reality

It could have been markedly improved if concrete steps had been made on an priority that matters to people nationwide: Equal opportunity. Yet the previous administration did not possess the first clue on how to convert the popular slogan on social mobility into concrete action. Over twenty-four months after the general election, it debated what the term even meant.

I found it bizarre, because I’d already told the Prime Minister what levelling up entailed when we originally talked 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 guiding principle, and its meaning is straightforward: social mobility is the method by which we realize equality of opportunity – not through reducing opportunity away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by providing opportunities to those that lack them.

Fundamental Idea

An additional vital DfE phrase we used, “ability is distributed uniformly throughout the nation, yet chances are not”, again was a deliberate expression, representing the two parts of a social mobility strategy. Initially, potential shared equally but not nurtured uniformly through our learning institutions. Furthermore, opportunities not spread evenly by businesses or our market. Thus, learning and employment were key to achieving stronger social mobility. This constituted an priority about the social fabric of our country – fostering individual capabilities and linking them with chances.

What Levelling Up Became

How did the social mobility agenda turn into under the previous government? Local investment schemes administered out of the DLUHC. Decorative floral displays and redeveloped traffic systems. An official policy document was released nearly three years after the leadership change, which saw ongoing initiatives rebadged under the fresh social mobility slogan.

Therefore, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went undeveloped, as well as all the improvement that it might have driven – in funding, enterprise, fiscal strategy, taxation and in place-making. Moreover, in schooling, including a higher education sector that has become a punchbag for politicians of all stripes – even though it remains the primary vehicle of life improvement for young working-class people, including myself, this country has had throughout modern times. Perhaps the sole mechanism of fair chances, working extensively.

The Role of Ambition

Hope is essential 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 aspire, they can achieve. For all administrations, being able to instil a sense of optimism about the tomorrow is critical. Analysis by the Institute for Policy Research at the university and others, recently released, showed that the education department’s targeted regions I established during my tenure – locally targeted strategies to enhancing learning results – led to youth in those communities being up to a significant margin more optimistic about their prospects than those in comparable communities without these schemes in place. The research confirms: just making an authentic start on fair opportunity strategies can swiftly and beneficially change how people feel about their prospects.

Missed Opportunities

Unaware of these findings, and in the middle of its new leader election, in that period, the ruling party terminated the programmes. What reason would someone in those areas vote for a organization that made that decision? The targeted programme is a single instance of what could have been a revolutionary Conservative government agenda on levelling up, but that chance was completely wasted. Methods such as this can create belief and drive. On the other hand, as the Tories discovered, breaking the promise of social mobility is the most expensive error any political party can make. The public penalized the administration for its failure but, primarily, for its broken promises on levelling up.

The Current Landscape

At present the mandate on social mobility and equality of opportunity has been transferred to a new administration. The previous terminology has been cast off. Labour has its own policy language of “removing obstacles to success”. The organization that is gradually replacing the failing Tories, the alternative party, also has its own terminology – “reindustrialisation”. This expression to talk about additional chances in communities like the one I was raised in, in South Yorkshire. It claims that an historical manufacturing base can revive into an revitalized economy.

For voters, it must seem like a déjà vu experience. Same issue, different language. But – as yet – no results.

Lessons for the Future

If Labour and Reform UK want to escape the identical outcome, both these parties should learn from the previous government’s errors on levelling up; that equal opportunity talk is one thing, but actual achievement of more equal results is much harder. Our nation’s endemically weak life chances remains the key issue for our country, with the next generation unable to get a proper professional launch, those putting in effort in full-time jobs with little to show after the rent has been paid, and people across the country without any actual expectation their next generation will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Politicians can mention improved access repeatedly. Yet where is the political group that has the comprehensive policy agenda on life chances? I observe no such party. Whoever gets there first, prevails. Not just for their organization, but, significantly, for a complete society that has never needed fair chances so urgently.