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As the existentially challenged Conservative party gathers in its conference city for its yearly gathering, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its path forward. Doubt remains if a clear direction is available. We are in challenging circumstances for a governing group that now has almost nothing, if anything, new or unique to say to voters.

What Could Have Been

The situation might have been vastly better if concrete steps had been made on an agenda that matters to people across the country: Social mobility. Yet the former leadership hadn’t got the first clue on how to turn the trendy talk on levelling up into concrete action. During the initial period after the general election, it debated what the phrase truly represented.

I was perplexed, because I’d already told the Prime Minister what levelling up signified when we initially discussed about it during his leadership campaign. The expression was language I created and used at the Department for Education to talk about equal opportunity. It served as our departmental mantra, and its purpose is unambiguous: levelling up is the approach by which we attain equal access – without removing opportunity away from those who already have it, but rather by expanding options to those that lack them.

The Core Concept

An additional vital DfE phrase we used, “potential is equally shared around the UK, however access isn’t”, served as a intentional wording, reflecting the two halves of a fairness agenda. First, potential shared equally but not cultivated evenly through our learning institutions. Second, access not provided uniformly by the private sector or our economy. As a result, learning and employment were key to achieving better life chances. This constituted an agenda about the social fabric of our country – fostering human talent and providing access to prospects.

What Levelling Up Became

How did levelling up turn into under the previous government? Local investment schemes managed by the DLUHC. Hanging baskets and rearranged intersections. A white paper was launched almost thirty-six months after the Prime Minister took office, which saw ongoing initiatives rebadged under the recently branded agenda.

As a result, a broader social mobility agenda went unpursued, as well as all the reform that it might have driven – in funding, business, economic policy, revenue and in community development. Moreover, in learning, including a higher education sector that has become a scapegoat for elected officials – despite the fact that it remains the strongest driver of social mobility for individuals from less privileged homes, personally, this country has had throughout modern times. Possibly the primary source of equal opportunity, working extensively.

The Importance of Aspiration

Aspiration is vital for our country to thrive. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a believable feeling that effort and reward are connected; that if people dream big, they can attain. For all administrations, being able to foster a feeling of hope about the years ahead is critical. Analysis by the research body at Bath University and others, recently released, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I introduced as education secretary – locally targeted strategies to enhancing learning results – led to youth in those neighborhoods being up to a significant margin more optimistic about their prospects than those in equivalent locations without these initiatives in place. The data shows: just making an authentic start on equal chance initiatives can swiftly and beneficially change how people feel about their prospects.

Squandered Chances

Unaware of these findings, and in the middle of its new leader election, in September 2022, the ruling party terminated the programmes. Why should any person in those areas vote for a political group that did that? This specific initiative is a single instance of what could have been a transformative Conservative government agenda on levelling up, but that possibility was completely wasted. Approaches such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. Conversely, as the Conservatives learned, reneging on commitments of equal opportunity is the biggest blunder any political party can make. The public held accountable the leadership for its failure but, perhaps most of all, for its failed pledges on equal opportunity.

Present Circumstances

Currently the mandate on social mobility and fair access has been taken up by a new administration. The old slogan has been abandoned. Labour has its own political rhetoric of “breaking down the barriers to opportunity”. The party that is gradually replacing the failing Conservative party, Reform UK, also has its own message – “industrial revival”. The terminology to talk about additional chances in communities like the one I grew up in, in the region. It promises that an former economic strength can be reborn into an industrial future.

To the electorate, it must appear as a repetitive cycle. Similar challenge, new terminology. However, so far, no progress.

The Way Forward

If Labour and Reform UK want to prevent the similar destiny, the respective organizations should learn from the Tories’ mistakes on social mobility; that social mobility rhetoric is simple terminology, but effective implementation of fairer outcomes is far more challenging. Britain’s persistently low social mobility remains the central problem for our country, with youth unable to get a decent career start, those laboring in full-time jobs with little to show after the living expenses are met, and individuals nationwide without any real hope their children will be able to do improve in life than they have.

Elected officials can discuss improved access repeatedly. Yet where is the party that has the complete plan on equal opportunity? None appear to exist. The first to achieve this, prevails. Not only for their party, but, more importantly, for a whole country that has desperately requires equality of opportunity so desperately.