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As the struggling Conservative party meets in Manchester for its yearly gathering, it has much to ponder regarding its path forward. It’s not even clear if a road forward remains open. These are difficult days for a governing group that now has almost nothing, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to voters.

An Alternate Reality

The situation might have been markedly improved if tangible progress had been made on an priority that is important for people throughout the UK: Equal opportunity. However the former leadership lacked the first clue on how to transform the trendy talk on social mobility into concrete action. Over twenty-four months after the 2019 election, it discussed what the term truly represented.

It seemed strange to me, because I had clearly defined for Johnson what social mobility signified when we originally talked about it during his leadership campaign. The expression was a concept I originated and used at the DfE to talk about life chances. It was our core mission, and its purpose is unambiguous: social mobility is the means by which we attain equal access – without removing chances away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by extending opportunities to those that don’t.

Fundamental Idea

An additional vital DfE phrase we used, “potential is equally shared around the UK, but opportunity is not”, served as a deliberate expression, embodying the dual components of a equal opportunity plan. First, ability distributed uniformly but not developed consistently through our schools and colleges. Additionally, opportunities not spread evenly by the private sector or our economy. Therefore, schools and companies were essential to achieving stronger social mobility. This was an agenda about the societal structure of our country – investing in human talent and providing access to chances.

What Levelling Up Became

How did levelling up turn into under the Tory administration? Local investment schemes administered out of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Decorative floral displays and reconfigured roundabouts and roads. A white paper was released a significant period after Johnson became leader, which saw existing policy approaches repackaged under the fresh social mobility slogan.

Consequently, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went ignored, as well as all the change that it might have driven – in capital, business, economic policy, taxation and in place-making. Moreover, in schooling, including a university system that has become a punchbag for politicians of all stripes – despite the fact that it remains the strongest driver of social mobility for young working-class people, including myself, this country has had in recent decades. Possibly the only engine of social mobility, operating at scale.

The Role of Ambition

Ambition is essential for our country to succeed. To foster ambition, there needs to be a realistic expectation that dedication and outcome are related; that if people dream big, they can attain. For political leadership, being able to foster a feeling of hope about the tomorrow is important. Research by the academic institution at Bath University and others, recently released, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I launched while in office – community-focused methods to improving education outcomes – led to students in those communities being up to a significant margin more optimistic about their future than those in similar areas without these schemes in place. The data shows: just making an sincere effort on pro-social mobility policy can rapidly and effectively change how people perceive their prospects.

Missed Opportunities

Ignoring this evidence, and in the middle of its successor selection process, in autumn 2022, the ruling party closed opportunity areas down. Why would anyone in those areas vote for a political group that took that action? The targeted programme is a clear case of what had the potential to be a transformative Tory policy platform on social mobility, but that opportunity was totally misused. Strategies such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. On the other hand, as the Tories learned, failing to deliver of fair chances is the costliest mistake any government can make. The public held accountable the government for its incompetence but, perhaps most of all, for its broken promises on social mobility.

The Current Landscape

Currently the baton on social mobility and equality of opportunity has passed to a new administration. The old slogan has been cast off. The new government has its own policy language of “breaking down the barriers to opportunity”. The political group that is steadily supplanting the struggling incumbents, the challenger, also has its own terminology – “economic renewal”. The terminology to talk about fresh prospects in areas like the one I was raised in, in my hometown. It suggests that an historical manufacturing base can be reborn into an industrial future.

To the electorate, it must seem like a repetitive cycle. Similar challenge, different language. However, so far, no progress.

Lessons for the Future

Whether the government and opposition want to prevent the identical outcome, both these parties should take lessons from the previous government’s errors on levelling up; that social mobility rhetoric is one thing, but successful delivery of improved opportunities is far more challenging. The UK’s endemically weak social mobility remains the central problem for our country, with young people unable to get a decent career start, those laboring in occupations with few results after the housing costs are covered, and individuals nationwide without any actual expectation their next generation will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Elected officials can mention equal chances repeatedly. Yet where is the party that has the complete plan on social mobility? I see none. The first to achieve this, prevails. Not only for their party, but, crucially, for a entire nation that has never needed fair chances so urgently.