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As the existentially challenged Tories gathers in Manchester for its yearly gathering, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its next steps. There is uncertainty if a clear direction remains open. We are in challenging circumstances for a political party that now has very little, if anything, new or unique to say to the electorate.

What Could Have Been

Things could have turned out so different if tangible progress had been made on an policy focus that resonates with people throughout the UK: Levelling up. Yet the previous administration hadn’t got the basic understanding on how to transform the popular slogan on social mobility into policy reality. For the two years after the 2019 election, it argued over what the phrase even meant.

It seemed strange to me, because I’d already told Johnson what social mobility meant when we first spoke about it during the contest for party leader. This terminology was a term I developed and used at the DfE to talk about life chances. This became our departmental mantra, and its meaning is clear: levelling up is the means by which we achieve equality of opportunity – not by taking chances away from those who already have it, but rather by extending chances to those that lack them.

The Core Concept

An additional vital education department term we used, “potential is equally shared around the UK, however access isn’t”, served as a deliberate expression, representing the two halves of a equal opportunity plan. Initially, potential shared equally but not nurtured uniformly through our learning institutions. Additionally, access not provided uniformly by businesses or our economy. Thus, schools and companies were essential to achieving stronger social mobility. This was an mission about the social fabric of our country – supporting individual capabilities and providing access to chances.

The Actual Outcome

How did levelling up become under the Tory administration? A towns fund administered out of the the relevant ministry. Hanging baskets and rearranged intersections. An official policy document was released almost thirty-six months after Johnson became leader, which saw current strategies rebadged under the recently branded agenda.

Consequently, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went ignored, as well as all the reform that it could have inspired – in investment, enterprise, fiscal strategy, revenue and in community development. Moreover, in education, including a university system that has become a punchbag for elected officials – although it remains the primary vehicle of life improvement for young working-class people, including myself, this country has had over the past 30 years. Maybe the only engine of fair chances, working extensively.

The Role of Ambition

Aspiration is crucial for our country to thrive. For hope to exist, there needs to be a believable feeling that hard work and results are related; that if people dream big, they can attain. For any government, being able to foster a feeling of hope about the years ahead is crucial. Studies by the research body at Bath University and others, published last month, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I launched while in office – place-based approaches to improving education outcomes – led to students in those communities being up to a significant margin more hopeful about their life ahead than those in comparable communities without these initiatives in place. The research confirms: just making an authentic start on pro-social mobility policy can quickly and positively change how people feel about their prospects.

Missed Opportunities

Unaware of these findings, and in the middle of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in autumn 2022, the ruling party closed opportunity areas down. Why should any person in those regions vote for a political group that took that action? This specific initiative is a single instance of what could have been a game-changing administration strategy on social mobility, but that possibility was completely wasted. Approaches such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. Conversely, as the ruling party discovered, failing to deliver of fair chances is the costliest mistake any government can make. The electorate held accountable the leadership for its ineffectiveness but, perhaps most of all, for its failed pledges on social mobility.

Present Circumstances

Currently the baton on life chances and equality of opportunity has passed to a new administration. The old slogan has been cast off. The current administration has its own political rhetoric of “removing obstacles to success”. The organization that is steadily supplanting the failing Conservative party, the challenger, also has its own language – “economic renewal”. This expression to talk about additional chances in communities like the one I was raised in, in my hometown. It claims that an industrial past can reincarnate into an modern manufacturing sector.

For the public, it must feel like a déjà vu experience. Same issue, alternative phrasing. However, so far, no progress.

What Must Change

Whether the government and opposition want to prevent the similar destiny, both these parties should learn from the previous government’s errors on levelling up; that equal opportunity talk is easy to say, but actual achievement 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 putting in effort in occupations with minimal progress after the living expenses are met, and people across the country without any actual expectation their offspring will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Leaders can discuss equal chances repeatedly. But where is the political group that has the complete plan on life chances? None appear to exist. Whoever gets there first, wins. Not just for their organization, but, crucially, for a whole country that has desperately requires equal access so desperately.