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While the struggling Tories convenes in its conference city for its annual party conference, it has plenty to consider regarding its future direction. It’s not even clear if a viable path is available. We are in challenging circumstances for a governing group that now has very little, if anything, new or unique to say to the public.

The Missed Opportunity

It could have been markedly improved if real advances had been made on an agenda that matters to people nationwide: Social mobility. However the previous administration hadn’t got the first clue on how to convert his zeitgeisty rhetoric on levelling up into policy reality. For the two years after the 2019 election, it argued over what the concept even meant.

I found it bizarre, because I’d already told Johnson what social mobility signified when we first spoke about it during his leadership campaign. This terminology was a concept I originated and used at the DfE to talk about equal opportunity. This became our core mission, and its purpose is unambiguous: levelling up is the method by which we attain fair chances – not by taking opportunity away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by extending opportunities to those that are without.

Fundamental Idea

An additional vital DfE phrase we used, “potential is equally shared around the UK, however access isn’t”, served as a intentional wording, reflecting the dual components of a fairness agenda. Initially, potential shared equally but not nurtured uniformly through our learning institutions. Additionally, access not provided uniformly by businesses or our market. Therefore, schools and companies were essential to achieving stronger social mobility. This was an agenda about the social fabric of our country – investing in individual capabilities and connecting them to chances.

The Reality of Implementation

How did levelling up become under the previous government? Regional development money managed by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Hanging baskets and rearranged intersections. An official policy document was released almost thirty-six months after the Prime Minister took office, which saw ongoing initiatives rebadged under the recently branded agenda.

Consequently, a broader social mobility agenda went undeveloped, as well as all the reform that it may have generated – in funding, commerce, economic policy, taxation and in local regeneration. Moreover, in learning, including a university system that has become a punchbag for elected officials – even though it remains the strongest driver of social mobility for young working-class people, personally, this country has had in recent decades. Possibly the primary source of fair chances, working extensively.

The Role of Ambition

Ambition is crucial for our country to prosper. To foster ambition, there needs to be a credible sense that hard work and results are related; that if people aspire, they can achieve. For political leadership, being able to create a feeling of hope about the years ahead is critical. Studies by the academic institution at the academic establishment and others, newly available, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I established during my tenure – place-based approaches to improving education outcomes – led to young people in those areas being up to 18 percentage points more hopeful about their future than those in equivalent locations without these schemes in place. The evidence is clear: just making an authentic start on pro-social mobility policy can swiftly and beneficially change how people view their prospects.

Squandered Chances

Oblivious to this, and in the midst of its new leader election, in autumn 2022, the ruling party terminated the programmes. Why should any person in those areas vote for a party that did that? The targeted programme is one example of what might have become a revolutionary Tory policy platform on social mobility, but that possibility was completely wasted. Approaches such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. In contrast, as the Conservatives discovered, breaking the promise of equal opportunity is the costliest mistake any political party can make. The electorate held accountable the government for its failure but, above all, for its broken promises on levelling up.

Present Circumstances

Currently the baton on social mobility and equality of opportunity has been transferred to a opposition party. The previous terminology has been cast off. The current administration has its own public messaging of “breaking down the barriers to opportunity”. The political group that is gradually replacing the hapless Tories, the challenger, also has its own message – “reindustrialisation”. It’s a phrase to talk about fresh prospects in communities like the one I grew up in, in my hometown. It suggests that an industrial past can reincarnate into an revitalized economy.

For voters, it must feel like a déjà vu experience. Identical problem, new terminology. But – as yet – no results.

The Way Forward

Whether the government and opposition want to avoid the same fate, each group should learn from the Conservatives’ failure on social mobility; that fair chance language is one thing, but effective implementation of fairer outcomes is far more challenging. Our nation’s chronically poor equal opportunity remains the primary challenge for our country, with youth unable to get a proper professional launch, those putting in effort in full-time jobs with few results after the housing costs are covered, and people across the country without any genuine belief their next generation will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Politicians can talk about improved access however much they like. However, which party has the organization that has the comprehensive policy agenda on social mobility? None appear to exist. The first to achieve this, prevails. Not just for their organization, but, crucially, for a complete society that has desperately requires equality of opportunity so urgently.