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While the struggling Conservative party meets in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its path forward. There is uncertainty if a clear direction exists at all. We are in difficult days for a political party that now has very little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to voters.

An Alternate Reality

Things could have turned out markedly improved if real advances had been made on an agenda that is important for people throughout the UK: Social mobility. Yet the previous administration did not possess the first clue on how to transform the popular slogan on social mobility into concrete action. During the initial period after the 2019 election, it argued over what the concept actually signified.

I was perplexed, because I had previously explained to Johnson what levelling up signified when we originally talked about it during his leadership campaign. This terminology was a concept I originated and used at the Department for Education to talk about equal opportunity. It was our departmental mantra, and its meaning is straightforward: social mobility is the means by which we achieve fair chances – not through reducing prospects away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by extending opportunities to those that are without.

The Core Concept

An additional vital DfE phrase we used, “talent is spread evenly around the UK, yet chances are not”, served as a deliberate expression, representing the two parts of a fairness agenda. To begin with, ability distributed uniformly but not cultivated evenly through our schools and colleges. Second, opportunities not spread evenly by employers or our economic system. Thus, education and business were key to achieving better life chances. This represented an agenda about the social fabric of our country – fostering individual capabilities and connecting them to prospects.

The Actual Outcome

How did levelling up become under the previous government? A towns fund overseen from the DLUHC. Street beautification and redeveloped traffic systems. An official policy document was released a significant period after the Prime Minister took office, which saw existing policy approaches repackaged under the new levelling up banner.

Consequently, a wider fairness strategy went unpursued, as well as all the reform that it may have generated – in capital, commerce, financial planning, tax and in community development. Moreover, in learning, including a university system that has become a scapegoat for leaders across parties – even though it remains the primary vehicle of social mobility for individuals from less privileged homes, like me, this country has had throughout modern times. Maybe the sole mechanism of social mobility, operating at scale.

The Role of Ambition

Ambition is essential for our country to succeed. For hope to exist, there needs to be a credible sense that effort and reward are connected; that if people aim high, they can attain. For any government, being able to instil a feeling of hope about the future is important. Research by the academic institution at the academic establishment and others, published last month, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I established during my tenure – locally targeted strategies to boosting academic achievement – led to young people in those areas being up to 18 percentage points more optimistic about their prospects than those in similar areas without these initiatives in place. The data shows: just making an genuine beginning on equal chance initiatives can rapidly and effectively change how people view their destiny.

Lost Potential

Ignoring this evidence, and in the midst of its new leader election, in September 2022, the Tory administration closed opportunity areas down. Why would anyone in those areas vote for a organization that did that? The targeted programme is one example of what could have been a transformative administration strategy on social mobility, but that possibility was hopelessly squandered. Strategies such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. On the other hand, as the Conservatives found out, breaking the promise of social mobility is the biggest blunder any leadership can make. Voters penalized the administration for its incompetence but, perhaps most of all, for its unfulfilled commitments on equal opportunity.

The Current Landscape

Currently the baton on life chances and equality of opportunity has passed to a opposition party. The old slogan has been abandoned. The current administration has its own policy language of “breaking down the barriers to opportunity”. The party that is steadily supplanting the failing Conservative party, Reform UK, also has its own message – “economic renewal”. The terminology to talk about fresh prospects in communities like the one I grew up in, in my hometown. It claims that an former economic strength can be reborn into an industrial future.

For voters, it must appear as a repetitive cycle. Same issue, different language. However, so far, no progress.

Lessons for the Future

If Labour and Reform UK want to avoid the similar destiny, both these parties should learn from the Tories’ mistakes on social mobility; that fair chance language is simple terminology, but effective implementation of fairer outcomes is much harder. Our nation’s persistently low social mobility 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 few results after the living expenses are met, and people across the country without any genuine belief their offspring will be able to do improve in life than they have.

Politicians can discuss equal chances repeatedly. However, which party has the organization that has the comprehensive policy agenda on life chances? None appear to exist. The first to achieve this, succeeds. Not just for themselves, but, significantly, for a entire nation that has urgently needs fair chances so badly.