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While the struggling Conservative party convenes in Manchester for its yearly gathering, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its next steps. There is uncertainty if a clear direction exists at all. We are in tough times for a governing group that now has almost nothing, if anything, new or unique to say to the electorate.

An Alternate Reality

Things could have turned out markedly improved if concrete steps had been made on an agenda that matters to people nationwide: Levelling up. However Boris Johnson’s government lacked the slightest idea on how to turn the popular slogan on levelling up into policy reality. During the initial period after the general election, it discussed what the phrase truly represented.

I was perplexed, because I had previously explained to Johnson what social mobility entailed when we first spoke about it during the contest for party leader. The phrase was a term I developed and used at the Department for Education to talk about life chances. It was our core mission, and its purpose is straightforward: social mobility is the approach by which we realize equality of opportunity – not through reducing prospects away from those who already have it, but rather by providing chances to those that don’t.

The Core Concept

An additional vital DfE phrase we used, “potential is equally shared around the UK, but opportunity is not”, represented another a intentional wording, representing the two halves of a social mobility strategy. Initially, ability distributed uniformly but not cultivated evenly through our education system. Furthermore, opportunities not spread evenly by employers or our economy. Therefore, education and business were essential to achieving stronger social mobility. This represented an priority about the societal structure of our country – supporting people’s potential and linking them with chances.

The Reality of Implementation

How did levelling up evolve into under Johnson’s Conservatives? Local investment schemes overseen from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Hanging baskets and reconfigured roundabouts and roads. A white paper was launched almost thirty-six months after the Prime Minister took office, which saw ongoing initiatives repackaged under the new levelling up banner.

Therefore, a broader social mobility agenda went ignored, as well as all the improvement that it may have generated – in investment, commerce, economic policy, taxation and in local regeneration. Moreover, in education, including a university system that has become a punchbag for politicians of all stripes – even though it remains the primary vehicle of life improvement for young working-class people, including myself, this country has had throughout modern times. Maybe the sole mechanism of equal opportunity, operating at scale.

Why Hope Matters

Hope is crucial for our country to thrive. 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 attain. For all administrations, being able to instil a feeling of hope about the future is crucial. Studies by the Institute for Policy Research at the university and others, recently released, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I established during my tenure – community-focused methods to enhancing learning results – led to students in those communities being up to a significant margin more hopeful about their prospects than those in similar areas without these schemes in place. The research confirms: just making an genuine beginning on equal chance initiatives can quickly and positively change how people feel about their prospects.

Missed Opportunities

Oblivious to this, and in the middle of its new leader election, in September 2022, the Conservative government ended the initiatives. Why should any person in those communities vote for a organization that took that action? The opportunity areas policy is a clear case of what could have been a game-changing administration strategy on levelling up, but that possibility was hopelessly squandered. Strategies such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. In contrast, as the Tories discovered, breaking the promise of equal opportunity is the costliest mistake any leadership can make. The electorate held accountable the leadership for its failure but, above all, for its broken promises on equal opportunity.

Present Circumstances

At present the baton on social mobility and equality of opportunity has been transferred to a Labour government. The old slogan has been discarded. Labour has its own policy language of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The organization that is gradually replacing the hapless Conservative party, the challenger, also has its own terminology – “economic renewal”. The terminology to talk about fresh prospects in communities like the one I was raised in, in South Yorkshire. It suggests that an former economic strength can revive into an revitalized economy.

For the public, it must appear as a déjà vu experience. Similar challenge, alternative phrasing. 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 previous government’s errors on social mobility; that social mobility rhetoric is easy to say, but successful delivery of fairer outcomes is far more challenging. The UK’s endemically weak social mobility remains the key issue 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 living expenses are met, and people across the country without any actual expectation their offspring will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Leaders can talk about improved access however much they like. But where is the party that has the comprehensive policy agenda on equal opportunity? I observe no such party. Whoever gets there first, succeeds. Not just for themselves, but, significantly, for a whole country that has urgently needs equality of opportunity so urgently.