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As the beleaguered Conservative party meets in its conference city for its annual party conference, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its path forward. Doubt remains if a clear direction exists at all. These are tough times for a governing group that now has very little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the electorate.

What Could Have Been

It could have been vastly better if tangible progress had been made on an agenda that matters to people throughout the UK: Levelling up. But Boris Johnson’s government lacked the first clue on how to transform the popular slogan on social mobility into actual implementation. For the two years after the 2019 election, it discussed what the term actually signified.

I found it bizarre, because I had previously explained to Johnson what levelling up meant when we originally talked about it during the contest for party leader. The phrase was a concept I originated and used at the Department for Education to talk about social mobility. This became our guiding principle, and its purpose is unambiguous: levelling up is the means by which we achieve equality of opportunity – not through reducing opportunity away from those who possess it, but rather by extending options to those that lack them.

Fundamental Idea

An additional vital DfE phrase we used, “talent is spread evenly around the UK, yet chances are not”, represented another a intentional wording, representing the dual components of a fairness agenda. Initially, talent spread evenly but not developed consistently through our schools and colleges. Second, chances not distributed fairly by employers or our economic system. Thus, schools and companies were crucial to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This constituted an mission about the community framework of our country – fostering people’s potential and connecting them to chances.

The Reality of Implementation

What did the social mobility agenda become under the previous government? Local investment schemes overseen from the the relevant ministry. Decorative floral displays and reconfigured roundabouts and roads. A government strategy was launched a significant period after the Prime Minister took office, which saw existing policy approaches repackaged under the fresh social mobility slogan.

As a result, a broader social mobility agenda went ignored, as well as all the improvement that it could have inspired – in investment, commerce, fiscal strategy, taxation and in community development. Additionally, in education, including a university system that has become a punchbag for elected officials – even though it remains the most powerful engine of upward movement for youth from modest backgrounds, like me, this country has had throughout modern times. Perhaps the only engine of social mobility, functioning widely.

The Role of Ambition

Ambition is essential for our country to succeed. For hope to exist, there needs to be a believable feeling that dedication and outcome are connected; that if people aim high, they can succeed. For political leadership, being able to instil a feeling of hope about the future is crucial. Analysis by the academic institution at the academic establishment and others, newly available, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I introduced as education secretary – community-focused methods to improving education outcomes – led to students in those communities being up to 18 percentage points more positive about their prospects than those in similar areas without these schemes in place. The evidence is clear: just making an authentic start on fair opportunity strategies can quickly and positively change how people feel about their prospects.

Squandered Chances

Ignoring this evidence, and in the throes of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in that period, the Conservative government ended the initiatives. Why should any person in those communities vote for a organization that did that? The targeted programme is one example of what could have been a revolutionary Conservative government agenda on levelling up, but that chance was totally misused. Approaches such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. Conversely, as the Conservatives learned, failing to deliver of fair chances is the biggest blunder any government can make. Voters punished the government for its incompetence but, primarily, for its failed pledges on social mobility.

Present Circumstances

Now the baton on life chances and equal chances has passed to a opposition party. The previous terminology has been discarded. Labour has its own political rhetoric of “removing obstacles to success”. The political group that is gradually replacing the failing Conservative party, the alternative party, also has its own terminology – “reindustrialisation”. This expression to talk about additional chances in communities like the one I grew up in, in the region. It promises that an historical manufacturing base can revive into an modern manufacturing sector.

To the electorate, it must appear as a Groundhog Day-style loop. Same issue, new terminology. Yet, currently, little improvement.

Lessons for the Future

If Labour and Reform UK want to prevent the similar destiny, the respective organizations should take lessons from the Conservatives’ failure on levelling up; that equal opportunity talk is one thing, but effective implementation of fairer outcomes is far more challenging. Our nation’s chronically poor social mobility remains the primary challenge for our country, with young people unable to get a good job beginning, those working hard in full-time jobs with minimal progress after the rent has been paid, and people across the country without any real hope their offspring will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Leaders can discuss improved access repeatedly. But where is the political group that has the complete plan on life chances? I observe no such party. Whichever party succeeds initially, wins. Not just for themselves, but, significantly, for a entire nation that has urgently needs equality of opportunity so urgently.