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While the struggling Conservative party convenes in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has plenty to consider regarding its path forward. Doubt remains if a road forward is available. We are in tough times for a political party that now has almost nothing, if anything, new or unique to say to voters.

An Alternate Reality

It could have been vastly better if tangible progress had been made on an agenda that resonates with people nationwide: Levelling up. However the previous administration lacked the first clue on how to turn the popular slogan on social mobility into concrete action. Over twenty-four months after the general election, it argued over what the concept actually signified.

I found it bizarre, because I had clearly defined for Johnson what levelling up entailed when we first spoke about it during the contest for party leader. The expression was a concept I originated and used at the Department for Education to talk about social mobility. It was our core mission, and its definition is clear: social mobility is the means by which we attain fair chances – without removing chances away from those who already have it, but rather by extending opportunities to those that are without.

The Core Concept

The other key ministry expression we used, “ability is distributed uniformly across our country, however access isn’t”, again was a intentional wording, embodying the two parts of a equal opportunity plan. To begin with, talent spread evenly but not developed consistently through our learning institutions. Second, opportunities not spread evenly by employers or our market. As a result, schools and companies were crucial to achieving stronger social mobility. This represented an priority about the social fabric of our country – fostering human talent and linking them with opportunities.

The Actual Outcome

How did levelling up evolve into under the previous government? Local investment schemes overseen from the DLUHC. Hanging baskets and redeveloped traffic systems. An official policy document was published almost thirty-six months after the leadership change, which saw existing policy approaches relabelled under the fresh social mobility slogan.

Therefore, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went ignored, as well as all the improvement that it might have driven – in capital, business, economic policy, tax and in local regeneration. Moreover, in education, including a higher education sector that has become a target for politicians of all stripes – despite the fact that it remains the strongest driver of life improvement for youth from modest backgrounds, like me, this country has had throughout modern times. Maybe the only engine of fair chances, operating at scale.

The Importance of Aspiration

Hope is crucial for our country to succeed. For hope to exist, there needs to be a believable feeling that dedication and outcome are connected; that if people aim high, they can succeed. For all administrations, being able to create a outlook of positivity about the years ahead is important. Research by the research body at Bath University and others, published last month, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I introduced as education secretary – place-based approaches to enhancing learning results – led to students in those neighborhoods being up to a significant margin more hopeful about their life ahead than those in equivalent locations without these initiatives in place. The data shows: just making an sincere effort on pro-social mobility policy can swiftly and beneficially change how people feel about their future.

Missed Opportunities

Oblivious to this, and in the midst of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in September 2022, the Tory administration terminated the programmes. Why should any person in those regions vote for a organization that took that action? This specific initiative is one example of what had the potential to be a revolutionary Tory policy platform on levelling up, but that opportunity was totally misused. Approaches such as this can generate optimism and ambition. In contrast, as the Conservatives discovered, reneging on commitments of social mobility is the most expensive error any leadership can make. The public held accountable the leadership for its incompetence but, primarily, for its unfulfilled commitments on social mobility.

The Current Landscape

Currently the responsibility on social mobility and equal chances has been transferred to a opposition party. The old slogan has been abandoned. The new government has its own public messaging of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The organization that is increasingly displacing the hapless Tories, Reform UK, also has its own terminology – “reindustrialisation”. It’s a phrase to talk about new opportunities in areas like the one I grew up in, in the region. It suggests that an historical manufacturing base can be reborn into an modern manufacturing sector.

For the public, it must seem like a déjà vu experience. Same issue, different language. But – as yet – no results.

What Must Change

If Labour and Reform UK want to escape the identical outcome, each group should take lessons from the Conservatives’ failure on social mobility; that equal opportunity talk is simple terminology, but actual achievement of improved opportunities is far more challenging. Our nation’s endemically weak life chances remains the central problem for our country, with youth unable to get a proper professional launch, those putting in effort in occupations with few results after the housing costs are covered, and people across the country without any genuine belief their next generation will be able to do improve in life than they have.

Leaders can mention improved access as much as they want. Yet where is the party that has the complete plan on life chances? I see none. Whichever party succeeds initially, succeeds. Not only for themselves, but, crucially, for a whole country that has desperately requires equal access so desperately.