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As the struggling Conservative party convenes in Manchester for its yearly gathering, it has plenty to consider regarding its future direction. There is uncertainty if a viable path exists at all. We are in difficult days for a political party that now has little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to voters.

The Missed Opportunity

Things could have turned out so different if real advances had been made on an agenda that is important for people nationwide: Levelling up. Yet Boris Johnson’s government lacked the first clue on how to transform his zeitgeisty rhetoric on levelling up into policy reality. During the initial period after the 2019 election, it discussed what the concept even meant.

I found it bizarre, because I’d already told Johnson what social mobility meant when we first spoke about it during the contest for party leader. The phrase was a concept I originated and used at the DfE to talk about life chances. This became our core mission, and its meaning is clear: social mobility is the means by which we realize equal access – without removing opportunity away from those who possess it, but rather by providing chances to those that are without.

Essential Principle

Another crucial education department term we used, “talent is spread evenly across our country, but opportunity is not”, represented another a deliberate expression, representing the two parts of a equal opportunity plan. To begin with, potential shared equally but not nurtured uniformly through our education system. Additionally, opportunities not spread evenly by the private sector or our economic system. Thus, schools and companies were key to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This constituted an priority about the societal structure of our country – supporting individual capabilities and connecting them to chances.

The Actual Outcome

How did levelling up evolve into under Johnson’s Conservatives? A towns fund managed by the the relevant ministry. Street beautification and reconfigured roundabouts and roads. An official policy document was launched almost thirty-six months after the Prime Minister took office, which saw current strategies rebadged under the new levelling up banner.

Consequently, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went ignored, as well as all the reform that it might have driven – in funding, business, fiscal strategy, revenue and in local regeneration. Moreover, in learning, including a higher education sector that has become a target for elected officials – although it remains the strongest driver of social mobility for young working-class people, including myself, this country has had throughout modern times. Perhaps the primary source of fair chances, functioning widely.

Why Hope Matters

Hope is essential for our country to prosper. To foster ambition, there needs to be a credible sense that dedication and outcome are connected; that if people aim high, they can attain. For political leadership, being able to foster a sense of optimism about the years ahead is crucial. Analysis by the Institute for Policy Research at Bath University and others, published last month, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I established during my tenure – locally targeted strategies to improving education outcomes – led to young people in those neighborhoods being up to a significant margin more positive about their future than those in equivalent locations without these schemes in place. The research confirms: just making an sincere effort on equal chance initiatives can quickly and positively change how people feel about their prospects.

Lost Potential

Ignoring this evidence, and in the throes of its successor selection process, in autumn 2022, the ruling party ended the initiatives. Why should any person in those regions vote for a party that made that decision? This specific initiative is one example of what could have been a revolutionary administration strategy on social mobility, but that opportunity was hopelessly squandered. Methods such as this can create belief and drive. On the other hand, as the ruling party discovered, reneging on commitments of fair chances is the biggest blunder any government can make. The electorate punished the administration for its failure but, above all, for its failed pledges on equal opportunity.

Today’s Political Reality

Currently the responsibility on social mobility and equal chances has passed to a Labour government. The old slogan has been cast off. The current administration has its own policy language of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The organization that is gradually replacing the struggling Tories, the challenger, also has its own language – “industrial revival”. It’s a phrase to talk about additional chances in areas like the one I was raised in, in South Yorkshire. It suggests that an historical manufacturing base can reincarnate into an industrial future.

To the electorate, it must appear as a Groundhog Day-style loop. Identical problem, alternative phrasing. However, so far, no progress.

What Must Change

Whether the government and opposition want to avoid the same fate, both these parties should take lessons from the previous government’s errors on social mobility; that equal opportunity talk is simple terminology, but actual achievement of improved opportunities is far more challenging. Our nation’s endemically weak life chances remains the key issue for our country, with the next generation unable to get a decent career start, those working hard in occupations with few results after the living expenses are met, and people across the country without any real hope their next generation will be able to do improve in life than they have.

Leaders can mention equal chances however much they like. But where is the party that has the thorough strategy on equal opportunity? None appear to exist. The first to achieve this, prevails. Not only for their organization, but, more importantly, for a complete society that has never needed fair chances so urgently.