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While the struggling Tories gathers in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its next steps. Doubt remains if a clear direction remains open. These are challenging circumstances for a political party that now has very little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the public.

An Alternate Reality

Things could have turned out vastly better if real advances had been made on an agenda that matters to people throughout the UK: Social mobility. Yet the former leadership hadn’t got the basic understanding on how to turn the popular slogan on levelling up into concrete action. Over twenty-four months after the 2019 election, it argued over what the phrase actually signified.

It seemed strange to me, because I had previously explained to Johnson what levelling up signified when we originally talked about it during the contest for party leader. The expression was language I created and used at the DfE to talk about social mobility. It served as our core mission, and its purpose is clear: social mobility is the means by which we achieve fair chances – without removing opportunity away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by extending opportunities to those that are without.

Essential Principle

Another crucial education department term we used, “potential is equally shared across our country, however access isn’t”, served as a deliberate expression, reflecting the dual components of a fairness agenda. First, talent spread evenly but not cultivated evenly through our schools and colleges. Furthermore, access not provided uniformly by employers or our market. Therefore, learning and employment were essential to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This constituted an agenda about the societal structure of our country – investing in human talent and linking them with opportunities.

The Actual Outcome

How did levelling up turn into under Johnson’s Conservatives? Local investment schemes overseen from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Street beautification and rearranged intersections. An official policy document was launched nearly three years after the Prime Minister took office, which saw ongoing initiatives rebadged under the recently branded agenda.

Consequently, a wider fairness strategy went undeveloped, as well as all the change that it could have inspired – in capital, commerce, fiscal strategy, tax and in local regeneration. Moreover, in learning, including a tertiary education that has become a scapegoat for politicians of all stripes – even though it remains the primary vehicle of social mobility for youth from modest backgrounds, personally, this country has had throughout modern times. Possibly the primary source of social mobility, working extensively.

The Role of Ambition

Ambition is vital for our country to thrive. For hope to exist, there needs to be a believable feeling that dedication and outcome are linked; that if people aim high, they can achieve. For political leadership, being able to instil a sense of optimism about the years ahead is critical. Analysis by the Institute for Policy Research at Bath University and others, newly available, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I established during my tenure – locally targeted strategies to improving education outcomes – led to youth in those communities being up to 18 percentage points more positive about their prospects than those in comparable communities without these initiatives in place. The research confirms: just making an authentic start on fair opportunity strategies can swiftly and beneficially change how people perceive their prospects.

Lost Potential

Unaware of these findings, and in the middle of its successor selection process, in September 2022, the Conservative government terminated the programmes. What reason would someone in those areas vote for a organization that did that? The opportunity areas policy is a single instance of what could have been a transformative Tory policy platform on social mobility, but that chance was hopelessly squandered. Approaches such as this can create belief and drive. Conversely, as the Tories learned, breaking the promise of equal opportunity is the costliest mistake any government can make. The electorate held accountable the leadership for its failure but, above all, for its broken promises on social mobility.

Today’s Political Reality

Now the mandate on life chances and equal chances has been taken up by a opposition party. The levelling up rhetoric has been cast off. The new government has its own public messaging of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The party that is increasingly displacing the failing Tories, the alternative party, also has its own terminology – “industrial revival”. This expression to talk about fresh prospects in areas like the one I come from, in my hometown. It suggests that an former economic strength can be reborn into an modern manufacturing sector.

For the public, it must seem like a repetitive cycle. Same issue, new terminology. But – as yet – no results.

The Way Forward

Should the current and alternative parties want to escape the similar destiny, the respective organizations should take lessons from the previous government’s errors on levelling up; that fair chance language is simple terminology, but effective implementation of fairer outcomes is much harder. Our nation’s chronically poor life chances remains the central problem for our country, with the next generation unable to get a decent career start, those laboring in full-time jobs with little to show after the rent has been paid, and citizens throughout the UK without any genuine belief their offspring will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Leaders can talk about improved access repeatedly. But where is the political group that has the complete plan on life chances? None appear to exist. Whichever party succeeds initially, wins. Not only for themselves, but, more importantly, for a whole country that has urgently needs equal access so desperately.