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As the struggling Tories gathers in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its path forward. Doubt remains if a road forward exists at all. We are in tough times for a governing group that now has little, if anything, new or unique to say to the electorate.

An Alternate Reality

It could have been markedly improved if concrete steps had been made on an priority that resonates with people across the country: Levelling up. But Boris Johnson’s government did not possess the slightest idea on how to turn the trendy talk on levelling up into policy reality. During the initial period after the 2019 election, it debated what the concept actually signified.

It seemed strange to me, because I had previously explained to Johnson what social mobility meant when we originally talked about it during the contest for party leader. This terminology was a concept I originated and used at the education ministry to talk about life chances. It served as our departmental mantra, and its meaning is clear: levelling up is the method by which we achieve equality of opportunity – without removing prospects away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by providing chances to those that don’t.

The Core Concept

The other key ministry expression we used, “potential is equally shared around the UK, however access isn’t”, represented another a deliberate expression, representing the two halves of a fairness agenda. First, ability distributed uniformly but not cultivated evenly through our education system. Second, opportunities not spread evenly by businesses or our market. Therefore, schools and companies were key to achieving better life chances. This represented an agenda about the societal structure of our country – fostering people’s potential and connecting them to chances.

The Actual Outcome

What did levelling up become under Johnson’s Conservatives? Regional development money managed by the DLUHC. Decorative floral displays and reconfigured roundabouts and roads. An official policy document was published almost thirty-six months after the leadership change, which saw current strategies repackaged under the new levelling up banner.

Therefore, a wider fairness strategy went unpursued, as well as all the improvement that it could have inspired – in capital, enterprise, fiscal strategy, revenue and in place-making. Additionally, in education, including a university system that has become a punchbag for elected officials – despite the fact that it remains the primary vehicle of social mobility for youth from modest backgrounds, personally, this country has had throughout modern times. Possibly the sole mechanism of equal opportunity, functioning widely.

The Importance of Aspiration

Hope is crucial for our country to thrive. For hope to exist, there needs to be a believable feeling that hard work and results are related; that if people dream big, they can succeed. For any government, being able to instil a feeling of hope about the future is critical. Research by the Institute for Policy Research at Bath University and others, newly available, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I established during my tenure – place-based approaches to boosting academic achievement – led to students in those neighborhoods being up to nearly one-fifth more positive about their life ahead than those in similar areas without these schemes in place. The data shows: just making an sincere effort on pro-social mobility policy can quickly and positively change how people view their future.

Lost Potential

Unaware of these findings, and in the middle of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in autumn 2022, the ruling party terminated the programmes. Why should any person in those areas vote for a party that made that decision? The opportunity areas policy is a single instance of what had the potential to be a revolutionary Tory policy platform on levelling up, but that chance was hopelessly squandered. Methods such as this can generate optimism and ambition. Conversely, as the Conservatives found out, breaking the promise of equal opportunity is the costliest mistake any political party can make. The electorate penalized the leadership for its failure but, above all, for its failed pledges on equal opportunity.

The Current Landscape

Currently the responsibility on life chances and equal chances has been taken up by a new administration. The old slogan has been discarded. The new government has its own policy language of “breaking down the barriers to opportunity”. The organization that is steadily supplanting the struggling incumbents, the alternative party, also has its own terminology – “reindustrialisation”. The terminology to talk about fresh prospects in regions like the one I come from, in the region. It suggests that an industrial past can reincarnate into an industrial future.

For voters, it must feel like a repetitive cycle. Same issue, different language. Yet, currently, little improvement.

Lessons for the Future

If Labour and Reform UK want to prevent the similar destiny, both these parties should take lessons from the Tories’ mistakes on social mobility; that fair chance language is easy to say, but effective implementation of more equal results is much harder. Britain’s endemically weak social mobility remains the primary challenge for our country, with young people unable to get a decent career start, those putting in effort in full-time jobs with little to show after the housing costs are covered, and individuals nationwide without any real hope their children will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Politicians can mention improved access however much they like. But where is the political group that has the comprehensive policy agenda on social mobility? None appear to exist. The first to achieve this, prevails. Not only for themselves, but, crucially, for a whole country that has desperately requires fair chances so urgently.