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As the beleaguered Tories meets in its conference city for its yearly gathering, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its future direction. There is uncertainty if a viable path exists at all. We are in challenging circumstances for a governing group that now has very little, if anything, new or unique to say to the public.

The Missed Opportunity

Things could have turned out so different if real advances had been made on an priority that matters to people across the country: Levelling up. But the former leadership did not possess the basic understanding on how to convert the trendy talk on levelling up into policy reality. During the initial period after the general election, it discussed what the concept even meant.

I was perplexed, because I’d already told the Prime Minister what social mobility entailed when we first spoke about it during his leadership campaign. This terminology was a term I developed and used at the Department for Education to talk about equal opportunity. This became our guiding principle, and its definition is straightforward: social mobility is the means by which we attain fair chances – not by taking opportunity away from those who possess it, but rather by extending options to those that lack them.

Fundamental Idea

Another crucial DfE phrase we used, “talent is spread evenly around the UK, but opportunity is not”, served as a intentional wording, embodying the two parts of a fairness agenda. Initially, talent spread evenly but not nurtured uniformly through our schools and colleges. Additionally, access not provided uniformly by the private sector or our economy. Therefore, schools and companies were crucial to achieving stronger social mobility. This was an priority 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 turn into under the previous government? Local investment schemes managed by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Hanging baskets and redeveloped traffic systems. An official policy document was launched almost thirty-six months after the Prime Minister took office, which saw current strategies relabelled under the recently branded agenda.

Therefore, a wider fairness strategy went ignored, as well as all the change that it might have driven – in investment, enterprise, fiscal strategy, taxation and in community development. Moreover, in schooling, including a higher education sector that has become a target for elected officials – although it remains the strongest driver of upward movement for youth from modest backgrounds, including myself, this country has had throughout modern times. Maybe the only engine of fair chances, functioning widely.

The Role of Ambition

Aspiration is essential for our country to succeed. For hope to exist, there needs to be a believable feeling that hard work and results are connected; that if people aspire, they can succeed. For all administrations, being able to foster a feeling of hope about the future is important. Studies by the research body at the academic establishment and others, newly available, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I established during my tenure – place-based approaches to improving education outcomes – led to youth in those neighborhoods being up to a significant margin more positive about their future than those in comparable communities without these programmes in place. The evidence is clear: just making an authentic start on fair opportunity strategies can quickly and positively change how people feel about their destiny.

Lost Potential

Oblivious to this, and in the throes of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in September 2022, the Conservative government terminated the programmes. What reason would someone in those regions vote for a party that made that decision? The opportunity areas policy is one example of what could have been a transformative administration strategy on social mobility, but that possibility was completely wasted. Methods such as this can create belief and drive. Conversely, as the Conservatives found out, reneging on commitments of social mobility is the most expensive error any government can make. The electorate held accountable the government for its incompetence but, above all, for its unfulfilled commitments on levelling up.

The Current Landscape

At present the responsibility on life chances and equality of opportunity has been transferred to a new administration. The levelling up rhetoric has been cast off. Labour has its own political rhetoric of “removing obstacles to success”. The political group that is gradually replacing the failing Conservative party, the challenger, also has its own terminology – “economic renewal”. The terminology to talk about fresh prospects in regions like the one I come from, in South Yorkshire. It claims that an former economic strength can revive into an revitalized economy.

To the electorate, it must appear as a déjà vu experience. Identical problem, alternative phrasing. But – as yet – no results.

What Must Change

Whether the government and opposition want to avoid the same fate, the respective organizations should take lessons from the Conservatives’ failure on levelling up; that social mobility rhetoric is simple terminology, but successful delivery of improved opportunities is significantly more difficult. Our nation’s endemically weak life chances remains the key issue for our country, with the next generation unable to get a good job beginning, those putting in effort in occupations with minimal progress after the living expenses are met, and individuals nationwide without any real hope their next generation will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Leaders can mention equal chances however much they like. But where is the political group that has the thorough strategy on social mobility? None appear to exist. Whichever party succeeds initially, wins. Not only for themselves, but, crucially, for a entire nation that has never needed equal access so urgently.