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While the beleaguered Tories gathers in its conference city for its yearly gathering, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its next steps. Doubt remains if a clear direction remains open. These are tough times for a political party that now has very little, if anything, new or unique to say to the public.

What Could Have Been

The situation might have been markedly improved if concrete steps had been made on an policy focus that matters to people across the country: Equal opportunity. But Boris Johnson’s government lacked the slightest idea on how to convert the popular slogan on levelling up into policy reality. For the two years after the 2019 election, it argued over what the phrase truly represented.

It seemed strange to me, because I’d already told Johnson what levelling up entailed when we initially discussed about it during his leadership campaign. The phrase was a concept I originated and used at the education ministry to talk about life chances. It was our core mission, and its meaning is clear: levelling up is the approach by which we attain equality of opportunity – not through reducing prospects away from those who already have it, but rather by extending chances to those that lack them.

Fundamental Idea

An additional vital DfE phrase we used, “ability is distributed uniformly across our country, however access isn’t”, represented another a intentional wording, representing the two halves of a equal opportunity plan. Initially, ability distributed uniformly but not developed consistently through our learning institutions. Second, access not provided uniformly by the private sector or our economy. Therefore, education and business were crucial to achieving stronger social mobility. This represented an agenda about the social fabric of our country – fostering human talent and connecting them to chances.

The Reality of Implementation

How did the social mobility agenda turn into under the previous government? A towns fund administered out of the the relevant ministry. Hanging baskets and redeveloped traffic systems. A white paper was released almost thirty-six months after Johnson became leader, which saw current strategies rebadged under the recently branded agenda.

As a result, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went ignored, as well as all the reform that it could have inspired – in funding, business, financial planning, taxation and in community development. Additionally, in learning, including a higher education sector that has become a target for elected officials – despite the fact that it remains the strongest driver of social mobility for young working-class people, like me, this country has had in recent decades. Maybe the only engine of social mobility, working extensively.

Why Hope Matters

Ambition is essential for our country to thrive. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a credible sense that effort and reward are linked; that if people aspire, they can attain. For any government, being able to foster a outlook of positivity about the years ahead is critical. Analysis by the academic institution at Bath University and others, recently released, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I established during my tenure – locally targeted strategies to boosting academic achievement – led to youth in those communities being up to nearly one-fifth more hopeful about their life ahead than those in equivalent locations without these schemes in place. The research confirms: just making an authentic start on fair opportunity strategies can rapidly and effectively change how people perceive their future.

Squandered Chances

Ignoring this evidence, and in the throes of its successor selection process, in September 2022, the Conservative government ended the initiatives. Why should any person in those communities vote for a organization that took that action? The opportunity areas policy is a clear case of what might have become a game-changing Tory policy platform on levelling up, but that opportunity was completely wasted. Approaches such as this can create belief and drive. On the other hand, as the ruling party learned, reneging on commitments of equal opportunity is the biggest blunder any government can make. Voters held accountable the government for its failure but, above all, for its broken promises on equal opportunity.

Present Circumstances

At present the mandate on equal opportunity and fair access has been transferred to a opposition party. The previous terminology has been discarded. The current administration has its own political rhetoric of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The party that is gradually replacing the struggling Tories, Reform UK, also has its own message – “reindustrialisation”. This expression to talk about additional chances in regions like the one I was raised in, in the region. It claims that an industrial past can reincarnate into an revitalized economy.

To the electorate, it must seem like a déjà vu experience. Identical problem, alternative phrasing. But – as yet – no results.

Lessons for the Future

Whether the government and opposition want to prevent the identical outcome, both these parties should learn from the previous government’s errors on social mobility; that fair chance language is easy to say, but actual achievement of improved opportunities is much harder. The UK’s endemically weak social mobility remains the primary challenge for our country, with youth unable to get a decent career start, those laboring in employment with minimal progress after the housing costs are covered, and individuals nationwide without any actual expectation their offspring will be able to do improve in life than they have.

Politicians can talk about fairer opportunities repeatedly. Yet where is the political group that has the complete plan on equal opportunity? None appear to exist. Whoever gets there first, succeeds. Not just for their organization, but, crucially, for a entire nation that has urgently needs fair chances so urgently.