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As the struggling Tories gathers in Manchester for its yearly gathering, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its future direction. It’s not even clear if a road forward is available. These are challenging circumstances for a political party that now has very little, if anything, new or unique to say to the public.

An Alternate Reality

It could have been vastly better if tangible progress had been made on an agenda that is important for people throughout the UK: Levelling up. Yet Boris Johnson’s government lacked the first clue on how to turn his zeitgeisty rhetoric on levelling up into concrete action. For the two years after the 2019 election, it argued over what the phrase even meant.

I found it bizarre, because I had previously explained to Johnson what social mobility meant when we initially discussed about it during his leadership campaign. The phrase was a term I developed and used at the DfE to talk about social mobility. It was our departmental mantra, and its meaning is clear: social mobility is the method by which we attain equal access – not by taking chances away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by expanding chances to those that don’t.

Fundamental Idea

The other key ministry expression we used, “ability is distributed uniformly throughout the nation, yet chances are not”, represented another a intentional wording, representing the two parts of a equal opportunity plan. To begin with, talent spread evenly but not developed consistently through our schools and colleges. Furthermore, opportunities not spread evenly by the private sector or our economic system. Therefore, learning and employment were crucial to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This represented an priority about the community framework of our country – fostering people’s potential and connecting them to opportunities.

The Reality of Implementation

How did the social mobility agenda become under Johnson’s Conservatives? Local investment schemes overseen from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Decorative floral displays and rearranged intersections. A government strategy was launched nearly three years after the leadership change, which saw ongoing initiatives rebadged under the fresh social mobility slogan.

As a result, a wider fairness strategy went ignored, as well as all the change that it could have inspired – in funding, enterprise, fiscal strategy, revenue and in place-making. And, of course, in schooling, including a higher education sector that has become a target for politicians of all stripes – even though it remains the strongest driver of upward movement for individuals from less privileged homes, including myself, this country has had in recent decades. Perhaps the only engine of equal opportunity, working extensively.

The Role of Ambition

Ambition is crucial for our country to thrive. To foster ambition, there needs to be a realistic expectation that dedication and outcome are related; that if people aim high, they can achieve. For all administrations, being able to foster a outlook of positivity about the tomorrow is important. Studies by the research body at the academic establishment and others, newly available, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I introduced as education secretary – community-focused methods to boosting academic achievement – led to youth in those areas being up to nearly one-fifth more positive about their life ahead than those in comparable communities without these schemes in place. The research confirms: just making an sincere effort on pro-social mobility policy can rapidly and effectively change how people perceive their future.

Lost Potential

Ignoring this evidence, and in the middle of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in autumn 2022, the ruling party closed opportunity areas down. Why would anyone in those communities vote for a organization that made that decision? The targeted programme is a clear case of what had the potential to be a game-changing Conservative government agenda on social mobility, but that chance was hopelessly squandered. Approaches such as this can generate optimism and ambition. Conversely, as the Tories learned, reneging on commitments of fair chances is the costliest mistake any leadership can make. Voters held accountable the administration for its incompetence but, primarily, for its unfulfilled commitments on social mobility.

Today’s Political Reality

Now the responsibility on social mobility and equality of opportunity has been transferred to a Labour government. The old slogan has been abandoned. The new government has its own public messaging of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The political group that is increasingly displacing the struggling Tories, the challenger, also has its own message – “reindustrialisation”. It’s a phrase to talk about fresh prospects in areas like the one I grew up in, in the region. It promises that an historical manufacturing base can reincarnate into an modern manufacturing sector.

To the electorate, it must feel like a Groundhog Day-style loop. Same issue, new terminology. Yet, currently, little improvement.

What Must Change

Should the current and alternative parties want to escape the identical outcome, each group should understand the Conservatives’ failure on levelling up; that social mobility rhetoric is one thing, but successful delivery of improved opportunities is far more challenging. Britain’s chronically poor equal opportunity remains the central problem for our country, with youth unable to get a good job beginning, those working hard in occupations with few results after the housing costs are covered, and individuals nationwide without any genuine belief their next generation will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Politicians can talk about equal chances repeatedly. But where is the political group that has the thorough strategy on equal opportunity? None appear to exist. Whichever party succeeds initially, wins. Not just for themselves, but, significantly, for a whole country that has desperately requires equality of opportunity so desperately.