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While the struggling Conservative party meets in its conference city for its yearly gathering, it has much to ponder regarding its next steps. Doubt remains if a viable path remains open. These are challenging circumstances for a governing group that now has very little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the electorate.

The Missed Opportunity

It could have been markedly improved if concrete steps had been made on an policy focus that resonates with people nationwide: Levelling up. But the previous administration hadn’t got the slightest idea on how to convert the trendy talk on levelling up into policy reality. During the initial period after the general election, it debated what the phrase truly represented.

I found it bizarre, because I’d already told Johnson what levelling up entailed when we initially discussed about it during his leadership campaign. The phrase was a concept I originated and used at the DfE to talk about social mobility. It was our guiding principle, and its meaning is clear: social mobility is the approach by which we realize equal access – not by taking prospects away from those who possess it, but rather by extending opportunities to those that don’t.

Essential Principle

The other key ministry expression we used, “ability is distributed uniformly throughout the nation, however access isn’t”, served as a intentional wording, embodying the two halves of a equal opportunity plan. Initially, potential shared equally but not developed consistently through our education system. Second, opportunities not spread evenly by the private sector or our economy. Therefore, learning and employment were essential to achieving stronger social mobility. This represented an mission about the community framework of our country – fostering people’s potential and linking them with opportunities.

The Actual Outcome

What did the social mobility agenda turn into under the Tory administration? A towns fund overseen from the DLUHC. Decorative floral displays and redeveloped traffic systems. An official policy document was launched almost thirty-six months after Johnson became leader, which saw current strategies rebadged under the new levelling up banner.

As a result, a broader social mobility agenda went ignored, as well as all the change that it could have inspired – in capital, commerce, economic policy, revenue and in local regeneration. And, of course, in schooling, including a tertiary education that has become a target for politicians of all stripes – although it remains the most powerful engine of upward movement for youth from modest backgrounds, like me, this country has had throughout modern times. Possibly the sole mechanism of equal opportunity, functioning widely.

The Role of Ambition

Aspiration is essential for our country to succeed. To foster ambition, there needs to be a believable feeling that hard work and results are connected; that if people aim high, they can attain. For all administrations, being able to create a sense of optimism about the years ahead is important. Analysis by the Institute for Policy Research at Bath University and others, newly available, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I established during my tenure – locally targeted strategies to enhancing learning results – led to young people in those areas being up to nearly one-fifth more positive about their prospects than those in similar areas without these initiatives in place. The evidence is clear: just making an genuine beginning on fair opportunity strategies can rapidly and effectively change how people perceive their destiny.

Squandered Chances

Ignoring this evidence, and in the middle of its new leader election, in autumn 2022, the ruling party terminated the programmes. Why should any person in those communities vote for a political group that took that action? The targeted programme is a single instance of what could have been a game-changing Conservative government agenda on levelling up, but that chance was hopelessly squandered. Methods such as this can create belief and drive. Conversely, as the Tories discovered, reneging on commitments of fair chances is the biggest blunder any government can make. The electorate punished the government for its failure but, above all, for its broken promises on equal opportunity.

The Current Landscape

Now the mandate on life chances and equal chances has been taken up by a new administration. The old slogan has been cast off. The current administration has its own policy language of “removing obstacles to success”. The party that is steadily supplanting the struggling Tories, the alternative party, also has its own language – “industrial revival”. The terminology to talk about additional chances in communities like the one I grew up in, in the region. It promises that an former economic strength can be reborn into an modern manufacturing sector.

For the public, it must appear as a Groundhog Day-style loop. Similar challenge, alternative phrasing. However, so far, no progress.

Lessons for the Future

Should the current and alternative parties want to prevent the similar destiny, the respective organizations should take lessons from the Tories’ mistakes on levelling up; that social mobility rhetoric is one thing, but effective implementation of improved opportunities is far more challenging. Our nation’s chronically poor life chances remains the key issue for our country, with young people unable to get a decent career start, those working hard in occupations with minimal progress after the living expenses are met, and citizens throughout the UK without any real hope their next generation will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Elected officials can talk about fairer opportunities however much they like. However, which party has the organization that has the comprehensive policy agenda on equal opportunity? I observe no such party. The first to achieve this, prevails. Not only for themselves, but, crucially, for a complete society that has desperately requires equal access so desperately.