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While the beleaguered Tories convenes in Manchester for its yearly gathering, it has plenty to consider regarding its future direction. Doubt remains if a clear direction remains open. 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

The situation might have been markedly improved if concrete steps had been made on an policy focus that matters to people nationwide: Social mobility. But Boris Johnson’s government hadn’t got the first clue on how to transform the popular slogan on levelling up into policy reality. During the initial period after the general election, it discussed what the concept even meant.

I found it bizarre, because I had previously explained to Johnson what social mobility signified when we first spoke about it during the contest for party leader. The expression was a concept I originated and used at the education ministry to talk about equal opportunity. It was our departmental mantra, and its definition is straightforward: social mobility is the method by which we realize equal access – not by taking chances away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by providing chances to those that lack them.

Essential Principle

The other key DfE phrase we used, “talent is spread evenly across our country, yet chances are not”, served as a intentional wording, embodying the two parts of a equal opportunity plan. To begin with, potential shared equally but not nurtured uniformly through our schools and colleges. Additionally, opportunities not spread evenly by businesses or our economy. Therefore, learning and employment were essential to achieving better life chances. This constituted an mission about the societal structure of our country – fostering human talent and providing access to opportunities.

The Actual Outcome

How did levelling up evolve into under the previous government? Local investment schemes managed by the the relevant ministry. Decorative floral displays and rearranged intersections. A government strategy was published almost thirty-six months after Johnson became leader, which saw existing policy approaches relabelled under the recently branded agenda.

As a result, a wider fairness strategy went undeveloped, as well as all the change that it may have generated – in capital, enterprise, economic policy, taxation and in community development. And, of course, in learning, including a higher education sector that has become a scapegoat for politicians of all stripes – even though it remains the most powerful engine of upward movement for young working-class people, personally, this country has had in recent decades. Possibly the primary source of fair chances, working extensively.

The Importance of Aspiration

Hope is essential for our country to prosper. For hope to exist, there needs to be a realistic expectation that hard work and results are connected; that if people aim high, they can succeed. For any government, being able to create a outlook of positivity about the tomorrow is crucial. Research by the research body at the academic establishment and others, recently released, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I established during my tenure – community-focused methods to enhancing learning results – led to young people in those neighborhoods being up to 18 percentage points more optimistic about their future than those in similar areas without these programmes in place. The research confirms: just making an genuine beginning on equal chance initiatives can quickly and positively change how people feel about their destiny.

Squandered Chances

Oblivious to this, and in the throes of its new leader election, in September 2022, the ruling party ended the initiatives. Why would anyone in those communities vote for a party that took that action? The targeted programme is one example of what had the potential to be a revolutionary Tory policy platform on social mobility, but that opportunity was completely wasted. Strategies such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. On the other hand, as the Conservatives discovered, breaking the promise of equal opportunity is the most expensive error any political party can make. The public punished the administration for its incompetence but, above all, for its broken promises on social mobility.

Present Circumstances

Currently the responsibility on equal opportunity and fair access has passed to a opposition party. The old slogan has been abandoned. Labour has its own policy language of “removing obstacles to success”. The political group that is gradually replacing the failing incumbents, the alternative party, also has its own language – “economic renewal”. This expression to talk about additional chances in areas like the one I was raised in, in my hometown. It promises that an former economic strength can reincarnate into an revitalized economy.

For the public, it must seem like a déjà vu experience. Identical problem, new terminology. But – as yet – no results.

The Way Forward

If Labour and Reform UK want to avoid the similar destiny, each group should understand the Conservatives’ failure on social mobility; that equal opportunity talk is simple terminology, but actual achievement of more equal results is significantly more difficult. Our nation’s endemically weak life chances remains the key issue for our country, with the next generation unable to get a decent career start, those laboring in occupations with few results after the living expenses are met, and citizens throughout the UK without any actual expectation their offspring will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Elected officials can mention fairer opportunities repeatedly. However, which party has the political group that has the comprehensive policy agenda on equal opportunity? I see none. Whoever gets there first, prevails. Not just for their party, but, more importantly, for a whole country that has urgently needs fair chances so urgently.