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While the beleaguered Tories convenes in its conference city for its annual party conference, it has much to ponder regarding its path forward. There is uncertainty if a road forward exists at all. These are challenging circumstances for a governing group that now has very little, if anything, new or unique to say to voters.

What Could Have Been

It could have been so different if tangible progress had been made on an agenda that matters to people nationwide: Levelling up. Yet the previous administration lacked the first clue on how to turn his zeitgeisty rhetoric on levelling up into actual implementation. Over twenty-four months after the 2019 election, it argued over what the concept actually signified.

It seemed strange to me, because I had clearly defined for the Prime Minister what levelling up entailed when we first spoke about it during the contest for party leader. The expression was language I created and used at the DfE to talk about equal opportunity. This became our guiding principle, and its purpose is unambiguous: levelling up is the approach by which we realize equality of opportunity – not by taking opportunity away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by providing opportunities to those that lack them.

The Core Concept

The other key education department term we used, “potential is equally shared around the UK, however access isn’t”, represented another a intentional wording, reflecting the two parts of a fairness agenda. Initially, ability distributed uniformly but not nurtured uniformly through our learning institutions. Second, chances not distributed fairly by employers or our economic system. As a result, schools and companies were essential to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This constituted an agenda about the community framework of our country – supporting individual capabilities and linking them with chances.

The Reality of Implementation

What did the social mobility agenda become under the previous government? Regional development money administered out of the the relevant ministry. Hanging baskets and reconfigured roundabouts and roads. An official policy document was released nearly three years after Johnson became leader, which saw current strategies repackaged under the new levelling up banner.

Therefore, a broader social mobility agenda went undeveloped, as well as all the change that it may have generated – in investment, enterprise, financial planning, taxation and in place-making. Additionally, in learning, including a tertiary education that has become a target for politicians of all stripes – even though it remains the primary vehicle of social mobility for individuals from less privileged homes, including myself, this country has had throughout modern times. Maybe the only engine of fair chances, functioning widely.

The Role of Ambition

Aspiration is crucial for our country to prosper. For hope to exist, there needs to be a credible sense that effort and reward are linked; that if people aim high, they can attain. For any government, being able to create a feeling of hope about the years ahead is critical. Research by the Institute for Policy Research at the academic establishment and others, published last month, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I launched while in office – community-focused methods to enhancing learning results – led to youth in those communities being up to nearly one-fifth more hopeful about their future than those in similar areas without these schemes in place. The evidence is clear: just making an sincere effort on equal chance initiatives can swiftly and beneficially change how people feel about their future.

Squandered Chances

Ignoring this evidence, and in the throes of its successor selection process, in autumn 2022, the Tory administration closed opportunity areas down. What reason would someone in those areas vote for a party that made that decision? The opportunity areas policy is one example of what had the potential to be a revolutionary Tory policy platform on social mobility, but that possibility was totally misused. Approaches such as this can generate optimism and ambition. Conversely, as the ruling party learned, failing to deliver of fair chances is the costliest mistake any government can make. The electorate punished the leadership for its failure but, perhaps most of all, for its failed pledges on social mobility.

The Current Landscape

Currently the responsibility on life chances and equal chances has been transferred to a Labour government. The previous terminology has been cast off. The new government has its own policy language of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The political group that is increasingly displacing the hapless incumbents, the alternative party, also has its own language – “economic renewal”. It’s a phrase to talk about new opportunities in areas 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 feel like a Groundhog Day-style loop. Similar challenge, alternative phrasing. But – as yet – no results.

The Way Forward

If Labour and Reform UK want to prevent the similar destiny, both these parties should understand the previous government’s errors on levelling up; that social mobility rhetoric is easy to say, but effective implementation of improved opportunities is significantly more difficult. Our nation’s persistently low equal opportunity remains the primary challenge for our country, with youth unable to get a good job beginning, those putting in effort in occupations with few results after the living expenses are met, and people across the country without any actual expectation their children will be able to do improve in life than they have.

Elected officials can discuss equal chances as much as they want. Yet where is the political group that has the complete plan on life chances? None appear to exist. Whichever party succeeds initially, prevails. Not just for their party, but, more importantly, for a whole country that has desperately requires fair chances so urgently.