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As the struggling Conservative party meets in its conference city for its annual party conference, it has much to ponder regarding its future direction. There is uncertainty if a viable path is available. We are in challenging circumstances for a political party that now has little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to voters.

What Could Have Been

It could have been so different if concrete steps had been made on an priority that resonates with people nationwide: Social mobility. Yet the previous administration did not possess 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 debated what the phrase even meant.

I was perplexed, because I had previously explained to the Prime Minister what social mobility signified when we originally talked about it during the contest for party leader. This terminology was a concept I originated and used at the Department for Education to talk about equal opportunity. It served as our departmental mantra, and its meaning is clear: social mobility is the means by which we realize equality of opportunity – without removing opportunity away from those who already have it, but rather by expanding opportunities to those that lack them.

Essential Principle

The other key DfE phrase we used, “ability is distributed uniformly across our country, but opportunity is not”, represented another a deliberate expression, embodying the two halves of a fairness agenda. Initially, talent spread evenly but not developed consistently through our schools and colleges. Additionally, chances not distributed fairly by businesses or our economic system. Thus, schools and companies were crucial to achieving better life chances. This represented an mission about the societal structure of our country – fostering human talent and connecting them to prospects.

What Levelling Up Became

How did the social mobility agenda become under the Tory administration? Regional development money administered out of the the relevant ministry. Hanging baskets and redeveloped traffic systems. A government strategy was launched a significant period after the Prime Minister took office, which saw current strategies repackaged under the new levelling up banner.

Consequently, a broader social mobility agenda went ignored, as well as all the reform that it could have inspired – in funding, business, fiscal strategy, tax and in community development. Moreover, in learning, including a university system that has become a target for leaders across parties – although it remains the most powerful engine of life improvement for individuals from less privileged homes, personally, this country has had throughout modern times. Perhaps the sole mechanism of fair chances, working extensively.

The Importance of Aspiration

Ambition is vital for our country to prosper. To foster ambition, there needs to be a believable feeling that hard work and results are related; that if people dream big, they can achieve. For political leadership, being able to instil a sense of optimism about the future is critical. Research by the research body at the academic establishment and others, published last month, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I launched while in office – community-focused methods to enhancing learning results – led to youth in those communities being up to nearly one-fifth more hopeful about their prospects than those in comparable communities without these programmes in place. The data shows: just making an authentic start on pro-social mobility policy can rapidly and effectively change how people perceive their future.

Squandered Chances

Oblivious to this, and in the middle of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in autumn 2022, the Conservative government closed opportunity areas down. Why would anyone in those areas vote for a party that made that decision? This specific initiative is one example of what might have become a game-changing administration strategy on social mobility, but that chance was totally misused. Strategies such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. On the other hand, as the ruling party found out, breaking the promise of equal opportunity is the costliest mistake any leadership can make. The public held accountable the government for its failure but, above all, for its broken promises on levelling up.

Today’s Political Reality

At present the baton on social mobility and equality of opportunity has been transferred to a new administration. The old slogan has been cast off. Labour has its own political rhetoric of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The political group that is increasingly displacing the hapless incumbents, the challenger, also has its own terminology – “reindustrialisation”. The terminology to talk about additional chances in areas like the one I grew up in, in my hometown. It promises that an industrial past can revive into an revitalized economy.

To the electorate, it must seem like a Groundhog Day-style loop. Same issue, new terminology. However, so far, no progress.

The Way Forward

Should the current and alternative parties want to avoid the same fate, both these parties should take lessons from the previous government’s errors on levelling up; that equal opportunity talk is simple terminology, but actual achievement of improved opportunities is much harder. The UK’s persistently low social mobility remains the primary challenge for our country, with young people unable to get a proper professional launch, those laboring in full-time jobs with little to show after the housing costs are covered, and people across the country without any genuine belief their children will be able to do improve in life than they have.

Elected officials can talk about fairer opportunities repeatedly. Yet where is the party that has the comprehensive policy agenda on equal opportunity? I observe no such party. Whoever gets there first, prevails. Not just for themselves, but, significantly, for a whole country that has urgently needs equality of opportunity so badly.