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As the beleaguered Conservative party convenes in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has much to ponder regarding its path forward. It’s not even clear if a clear direction exists at all. These are challenging circumstances for a governing group that now has little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to voters.

The Missed Opportunity

It could have been markedly improved if concrete steps had been made on an priority that matters to people across the country: Equal opportunity. However the former leadership lacked the slightest idea on how to convert his zeitgeisty rhetoric on social mobility into concrete action. During the initial period after the 2019 election, it argued over what the concept actually signified.

I found it bizarre, because I’d already told the Prime Minister what levelling up meant when we initially discussed about it during the contest for party leader. The expression was a concept I originated and used at the education ministry to talk about social mobility. This became our core mission, and its purpose is straightforward: levelling up is the means by which we attain equal access – not by taking prospects away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by providing opportunities to those that don’t.

The Core Concept

An additional vital ministry expression we used, “potential is equally shared across our country, but opportunity is not”, again was a intentional wording, embodying the two halves of a social mobility strategy. First, talent spread evenly but not developed consistently through our schools and colleges. Second, access not provided uniformly by businesses or our market. Thus, learning and employment were crucial to achieving stronger social mobility. This constituted an priority about the societal structure of our country – supporting people’s potential and providing access to prospects.

The Reality of Implementation

What did levelling up turn into under the previous government? Regional development money administered out of the DLUHC. Hanging baskets and rearranged intersections. A government strategy was launched a significant period after Johnson became leader, which saw current strategies relabelled under the recently branded agenda.

Consequently, a broader social mobility agenda went unpursued, as well as all the improvement that it might have driven – in capital, business, economic policy, taxation and in place-making. Moreover, in schooling, including a tertiary education that has become a punchbag for leaders across parties – even though it remains the most powerful engine of life improvement for youth from modest backgrounds, personally, this country has had throughout modern times. Possibly the primary source of fair chances, functioning widely.

The Importance of Aspiration

Aspiration is essential for our country to prosper. For hope to exist, there needs to be a credible sense that effort and reward are connected; that if people aspire, they can attain. For all administrations, being able to foster a sense of optimism about the years ahead is critical. Analysis by the Institute for Policy Research at the university and others, newly available, showed that the education department’s targeted regions I launched while in office – community-focused methods to boosting academic achievement – led to youth in those neighborhoods being up to nearly one-fifth more optimistic about their prospects than those in similar areas without these programmes in place. The data shows: just making an genuine beginning on equal chance initiatives can rapidly and effectively change how people view their future.

Missed Opportunities

Unaware of these findings, and in the middle of its new leader election, in that period, the Conservative government terminated the programmes. Why would anyone in those areas vote for a political group that took that action? This specific initiative is a clear case of what might have become a transformative 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 Conservatives found out, breaking the promise of fair chances is the costliest mistake any government can make. The electorate held accountable the leadership for its failure but, perhaps most of all, for its broken promises on levelling up.

Present Circumstances

At present the baton on social mobility and fair access has passed to a opposition party. The old slogan has been cast off. The current administration has its own political rhetoric of “removing obstacles to success”. The political group that is gradually replacing the hapless incumbents, Reform UK, also has its own message – “reindustrialisation”. This expression to talk about fresh prospects in communities like the one I grew up in, in South Yorkshire. It suggests that an historical manufacturing base can revive into an industrial future.

For the public, it must feel like a repetitive cycle. Same issue, alternative phrasing. Yet, currently, little improvement.

The Way Forward

If Labour and Reform UK want to prevent the same fate, each group should learn from the previous government’s errors on levelling up; that equal opportunity talk is one thing, but successful delivery of more equal results is significantly more difficult. Our nation’s persistently low equal opportunity remains the central problem for our country, with the next generation unable to get a decent career start, those working hard in employment with minimal progress after the rent has been paid, and people across the country without any genuine belief their children will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Politicians can talk about fairer opportunities repeatedly. But where is the party that has the comprehensive policy agenda on social mobility? None appear to exist. Whichever party succeeds initially, prevails. Not only for their party, but, more importantly, for a entire nation that has never needed equal access so badly.