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As the beleaguered Conservative party convenes in its conference city for its yearly gathering, it has much to ponder regarding its path forward. Doubt remains if a viable path remains open. We are in tough times for a governing group that now has little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to voters.

What Could Have Been

Things could have turned out vastly better if concrete steps had been made on an agenda that is important for people across the country: Social mobility. But the previous administration hadn’t got the basic understanding on how to convert the trendy talk on levelling up into actual implementation. Over twenty-four months after the 2019 election, it argued over what the concept actually signified.

I was perplexed, because I’d already told Johnson what levelling up meant when we initially discussed about it during the contest for party leader. The expression was a concept I originated and used at the education ministry to talk about social mobility. It was our departmental mantra, and its purpose is unambiguous: social mobility is the approach by which we attain equality of opportunity – without removing opportunity away from those who possess it, but rather by providing chances to those that lack them.

The Core Concept

The other key DfE phrase we used, “potential is equally shared around the UK, yet chances are not”, served as a intentional wording, reflecting the dual components of a fairness agenda. Initially, ability distributed uniformly but not developed consistently through our education system. Additionally, chances not distributed fairly by the private sector or our market. As a result, schools and companies were key to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This represented an priority about the societal structure of our country – fostering people’s potential and linking them with prospects.

The Actual Outcome

What did levelling up become under Johnson’s Conservatives? Regional development money overseen from the DLUHC. Decorative floral displays and reconfigured roundabouts and roads. A white paper was released a significant period after the leadership change, which saw ongoing initiatives relabelled under the new levelling up banner.

Therefore, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went ignored, as well as all the reform that it may have generated – in investment, commerce, fiscal strategy, taxation and in place-making. And, of course, in schooling, including a higher education sector that has become a punchbag for leaders across parties – despite the fact that it remains the primary vehicle of upward movement for young working-class people, personally, this country has had in recent decades. Maybe the primary source of fair chances, working extensively.

Why Hope Matters

Ambition is essential for our country to thrive. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a believable feeling that effort and reward are linked; that if people dream big, they can achieve. For all administrations, being able to create a outlook of positivity about the future is crucial. Studies by the Institute for Policy Research at Bath University and others, recently released, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I launched while in office – place-based approaches to enhancing learning results – led to youth in those neighborhoods being up to 18 percentage points more optimistic about their future than those in similar areas without these schemes in place. The evidence is clear: just making an authentic start on pro-social mobility policy can quickly and positively change how people perceive their destiny.

Squandered Chances

Unaware of these findings, and in the middle of its new leader election, in that period, the ruling party closed opportunity areas down. What reason would someone in those areas vote for a organization that made that decision? The targeted programme is one example of what had the potential to be a game-changing administration strategy on levelling up, but that opportunity was totally misused. Strategies such as this can create belief and drive. Conversely, as the Tories found out, breaking the promise of equal opportunity is the most expensive error any government can make. The public punished the government for its failure but, above all, for its broken promises on equal opportunity.

Today’s Political Reality

Now the baton on equal opportunity and equality of opportunity has been taken up by a new administration. The old slogan has been discarded. Labour has its own political rhetoric of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The party that is gradually replacing the failing incumbents, Reform UK, also has its own language – “economic renewal”. This expression to talk about fresh prospects in regions like the one I come from, in South Yorkshire. It claims that an historical manufacturing base can revive into an industrial future.

For voters, it must appear as a repetitive cycle. Identical problem, different language. But – as yet – no results.

The Way Forward

Should the current and alternative parties want to avoid the same fate, both these parties should take lessons from the Tories’ mistakes on levelling up; that equal opportunity talk is simple terminology, but effective implementation of improved opportunities is significantly more difficult. The UK’s persistently low life chances remains the central problem for our country, with the next generation unable to get a good job beginning, those working hard in full-time jobs with few results after the housing costs are covered, and people across the country without any actual expectation their children will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Elected officials can talk about improved access as much as they want. However, which party has the organization that has the comprehensive policy agenda on life chances? None appear to exist. The first to achieve this, wins. Not only for their organization, but, crucially, for a complete society that has never needed equality of opportunity so badly.