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As the existentially challenged Conservative party meets in Manchester for its yearly gathering, it has plenty to consider regarding its path forward. There is uncertainty if a viable path is available. We are in tough times for a governing group that now has almost nothing, if anything, new or unique to say to voters.

An Alternate Reality

It could have been markedly improved if real advances had been made on an policy focus that is important for people nationwide: Social mobility. However the previous administration did not possess the slightest idea on how to turn the trendy talk on levelling up into concrete action. For the two years after the 2019 election, it argued over what the concept truly represented.

I was perplexed, because I’d already told Johnson what levelling up signified when we initially discussed about it during the contest for party leader. The phrase was language I created and used at the education ministry to talk about social mobility. It served as our departmental mantra, and its definition is clear: social mobility is the means by which we attain equal access – not through reducing prospects away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by providing options to those that don’t.

The Core Concept

The other key ministry expression we used, “talent is spread evenly around the UK, yet chances are not”, represented another a purposeful phrase, reflecting the two halves of a social mobility strategy. First, potential shared equally but not cultivated evenly through our education system. Additionally, chances not distributed fairly by employers or our economic system. Therefore, learning and employment were essential to achieving stronger social mobility. This constituted an agenda about the societal structure of our country – supporting human talent and providing access to prospects.

The Reality of Implementation

How did the social mobility agenda evolve into under Johnson’s Conservatives? Regional development money administered out of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Decorative floral displays and rearranged intersections. A white paper was released a significant period after Johnson became leader, which saw current strategies rebadged under the recently branded agenda.

As a result, a broader social mobility agenda went ignored, as well as all the reform that it could have inspired – in capital, enterprise, fiscal strategy, tax and in community development. Moreover, in education, including a higher education sector that has become a punchbag for leaders across parties – despite the fact that it remains the strongest driver of life improvement for youth from modest backgrounds, like me, this country has had over the past 30 years. Perhaps the primary source of fair chances, functioning widely.

Why Hope Matters

Ambition is essential for our country to prosper. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a realistic expectation that dedication and outcome are related; that if people dream big, they can attain. For political leadership, being able to create a feeling of hope about the tomorrow is important. Research by the academic institution at the university and others, recently released, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I introduced as education secretary – locally targeted strategies to improving education outcomes – led to students in those neighborhoods being up to nearly one-fifth more positive about their future than those in equivalent locations without these initiatives in place. The data shows: just making an sincere effort on equal chance initiatives can rapidly and effectively change how people view their future.

Missed Opportunities

Oblivious to this, and in the middle of its new leader election, in that period, the Conservative government terminated the programmes. What reason would someone in those regions vote for a political group that took that action? The targeted programme is a single instance of what could have been a revolutionary Conservative government agenda on levelling up, but that chance was completely wasted. Strategies such as this can create belief and drive. In contrast, as the Conservatives discovered, failing to deliver of equal opportunity is the costliest mistake any leadership can make. Voters penalized the government for its ineffectiveness but, above all, for its failed pledges on equal opportunity.

Today’s Political Reality

At present the mandate 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 political group that is gradually replacing the failing Conservative party, the challenger, also has its own language – “economic renewal”. The terminology to talk about fresh prospects in communities like the one I was raised in, in South Yorkshire. It claims that an industrial past can revive into an modern manufacturing sector.

For voters, it must feel like a Groundhog Day-style loop. Identical problem, different language. However, so far, no progress.

The Way Forward

Should the current and alternative parties want to prevent the identical outcome, both these parties should take lessons from the Tories’ mistakes on social mobility; that equal opportunity talk is easy to say, but actual achievement of more equal results is much harder. The UK’s persistently low life chances remains the primary challenge for our country, with young people unable to get a good job beginning, those working hard in full-time jobs with little to show after the living expenses are met, and individuals nationwide without any genuine belief their next generation will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Politicians can talk about improved access as much as they want. However, which party has the party that has the thorough strategy on life chances? I observe no such party. The first to achieve this, prevails. Not just for their party, but, more importantly, for a entire nation that has desperately requires fair chances so badly.