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As the struggling Tories convenes in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has much to ponder regarding its path forward. It’s not even clear if a road forward is available. These are tough times for a political party that now has very little, if anything, new or unique to say to the public.

An Alternate Reality

Things could have turned out vastly better if concrete steps had been made on an agenda that resonates with people across the country: Equal opportunity. But Boris Johnson’s government hadn’t got the first clue on how to transform the popular slogan on levelling up into policy reality. Over twenty-four months after the 2019 election, it discussed what the concept truly represented.

It seemed strange to me, because I’d already told Johnson what social mobility signified when we first spoke about it during the contest for party leader. The phrase was language I created and used at the education ministry to talk about life chances. This became our departmental mantra, and its meaning is clear: social mobility is the means by which we attain equality of opportunity – not through reducing chances away from those who already have it, but rather by expanding chances to those that lack them.

The Core Concept

Another crucial DfE phrase we used, “ability is distributed uniformly across our country, but opportunity is not”, served as a purposeful phrase, representing the two halves of a equal opportunity plan. Initially, talent spread evenly but not nurtured uniformly through our learning institutions. Furthermore, opportunities not spread evenly by employers or our economy. As a result, learning and employment were key to achieving better life chances. This represented an priority about the community framework of our country – investing in people’s potential and connecting them to prospects.

What Levelling Up Became

How did the social mobility agenda turn into under the previous government? A towns fund managed by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Hanging baskets and rearranged intersections. A government strategy was released almost thirty-six months after the Prime Minister took office, which saw current strategies repackaged under the recently branded agenda.

Consequently, a wider fairness strategy went undeveloped, as well as all the improvement that it could have inspired – in funding, enterprise, financial planning, revenue and in local regeneration. Moreover, in learning, including a university system that has become a target for elected officials – although it remains the strongest driver of life improvement for individuals from less privileged homes, like me, this country has had over the past 30 years. Perhaps the sole mechanism of fair chances, operating at scale.

The Importance of Aspiration

Hope is crucial for our country to prosper. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a credible sense that dedication and outcome are connected; that if people dream big, they can achieve. For any government, being able to foster a outlook of positivity about the tomorrow is crucial. Studies by the academic institution at the university and others, newly available, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I established during my tenure – place-based approaches to enhancing learning results – led to students in those neighborhoods being up to 18 percentage points more positive about their prospects than those in similar areas without these schemes in place. The data shows: just making an sincere effort on equal chance initiatives can swiftly and beneficially change how people perceive their destiny.

Squandered Chances

Unaware of these findings, and in the middle of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in September 2022, the ruling party terminated the programmes. What reason would someone in those regions vote for a party that made that decision? The targeted programme is one example of what had the potential to be a transformative Tory policy platform on social mobility, but that possibility was completely wasted. Strategies such as this can create belief and drive. On the other hand, as the Conservatives discovered, reneging on commitments of social mobility is the most expensive error any government can make. Voters punished the government for its incompetence but, primarily, for its broken promises on equal opportunity.

The Current Landscape

Currently the mandate on life chances and equal chances has passed to a opposition party. The previous terminology has been cast off. Labour has its own policy language of “removing obstacles to success”. The political group that is gradually replacing the struggling Tories, the alternative party, also has its own message – “industrial revival”. This expression to talk about additional chances in communities like the one I grew up in, in South Yorkshire. It claims that an historical manufacturing base can reincarnate into an revitalized economy.

For voters, it must seem like a repetitive cycle. Identical problem, different language. Yet, currently, little improvement.

Lessons for the Future

Should the current and alternative parties want to avoid the identical outcome, the respective organizations should learn from the Conservatives’ failure on levelling up; that fair chance language is one thing, but actual achievement of improved opportunities is far more challenging. Britain’s persistently low life chances remains the central problem for our country, with the next generation unable to get a decent career start, those laboring in full-time jobs with few results after the rent has been paid, and citizens throughout the UK without any actual expectation their offspring will be able to do improve in life than they have.

Elected officials can discuss equal chances as much as they want. Yet where is the political group that has the complete plan on social mobility? I see none. The first to achieve this, prevails. Not only for themselves, but, more importantly, for a complete society that has desperately requires equality of opportunity so badly.