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While the existentially challenged Conservative party meets in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its path forward. It’s not even clear if a clear direction remains open. We are in tough times for a governing group that now has almost nothing, if anything, new or unique to say to the public.

An Alternate Reality

The situation might have been vastly better if real advances had been made on an agenda that matters to people nationwide: Equal opportunity. But the former leadership lacked the basic understanding on how to turn the popular slogan on social mobility into actual implementation. During the initial period after the general election, it discussed what the phrase truly represented.

It seemed strange to me, because I’d already told Johnson what levelling up signified when we initially discussed about it during the contest for party leader. This terminology was language I created and used at the education ministry to talk about social mobility. It served as our departmental mantra, and its purpose is straightforward: social mobility is the approach by which we realize fair chances – not through reducing prospects away from those who already have it, but rather by expanding options to those that lack them.

The Core Concept

An additional vital DfE phrase we used, “talent is spread evenly throughout the nation, yet chances are not”, again was a purposeful phrase, embodying the dual components of a equal opportunity plan. Initially, talent spread evenly but not cultivated evenly through our learning institutions. Furthermore, access not provided uniformly by businesses or our market. Thus, schools and companies were essential to achieving better life chances. This represented an priority about the community framework of our country – supporting individual capabilities and providing access to opportunities.

The Reality of Implementation

How did levelling up evolve into under the Tory administration? A towns fund administered out of the DLUHC. Hanging baskets and redeveloped traffic systems. An official policy document was published a significant period after the leadership change, which saw current strategies repackaged under the fresh social mobility slogan.

Therefore, a broader social mobility agenda went unpursued, as well as all the reform that it could have inspired – in investment, business, economic policy, revenue and in place-making. And, of course, in schooling, including a higher education sector that has become a punchbag for elected officials – although it remains the strongest driver of upward movement for youth from modest backgrounds, personally, this country has had over the past 30 years. Possibly the sole mechanism of equal opportunity, working extensively.

The Importance of Aspiration

Aspiration is vital for our country to thrive. To foster ambition, there needs to be a realistic expectation that dedication and outcome are linked; that if people aspire, they can achieve. For political leadership, being able to foster a sense of optimism about the tomorrow is crucial. Studies by the academic institution at the academic establishment and others, published last month, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I launched while in office – place-based approaches to enhancing learning results – led to youth in those neighborhoods being up to 18 percentage points more hopeful about their future than those in comparable communities without these initiatives in place. The data shows: just making an sincere effort on pro-social mobility policy can quickly and positively change how people view their future.

Missed Opportunities

Oblivious to this, and in the middle of its new leader election, in autumn 2022, the ruling party ended the initiatives. Why would anyone in those regions vote for a party that did that? This specific initiative is a single instance of what might have become a transformative administration strategy on levelling up, but that chance was completely wasted. Approaches such as this can generate optimism and ambition. On the other hand, as the ruling party discovered, breaking the promise of fair chances is the biggest blunder any leadership can make. The electorate punished the administration for its ineffectiveness but, above all, for its failed pledges on equal opportunity.

The Current Landscape

At present the mandate on life chances and equality of opportunity has been transferred to a Labour government. The old slogan has been abandoned. Labour has its own political rhetoric of “breaking down the barriers to opportunity”. The organization that is increasingly displacing the hapless Tories, Reform UK, also has its own message – “industrial revival”. The terminology to talk about additional chances in communities like the one I was raised in, in South Yorkshire. It promises that an industrial past can revive into an revitalized economy.

To the electorate, it must seem like a repetitive cycle. Similar challenge, new terminology. But – as yet – no results.

Lessons for the Future

If Labour and Reform UK want to avoid the similar destiny, the respective organizations should understand the previous government’s errors on social mobility; that fair chance language is simple terminology, but actual achievement of improved opportunities is significantly more difficult. The UK’s chronically poor life chances remains the key issue for our country, with the next generation unable to get a good job beginning, those working hard in full-time jobs with few results after the living expenses are met, and individuals nationwide without any genuine belief their next generation will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Leaders can discuss equal chances however much they like. However, which party has the organization that has the thorough strategy on equal opportunity? I observe no such party. The first to achieve this, wins. Not only for themselves, but, significantly, for a whole country that has never needed fair chances so desperately.