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As the struggling Conservative party meets in its conference city for its annual party conference, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its path forward. Doubt remains if a road forward remains open. We are in challenging circumstances for a political party that now has little, 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 agenda that resonates with people throughout the UK: Levelling up. However Boris Johnson’s government lacked the slightest idea on how to convert his zeitgeisty rhetoric on levelling up into actual implementation. Over twenty-four months after the general election, it argued over what the phrase even meant.

I was perplexed, because I had previously explained to Johnson what social mobility signified when we first spoke about it during the contest for party leader. This terminology was a term I developed and used at the DfE to talk about life chances. It was our departmental mantra, and its definition is unambiguous: levelling up is the approach by which we attain equality of opportunity – without removing prospects away from those who possess it, but rather by providing opportunities to those that lack them.

Fundamental Idea

Another crucial education department term we used, “ability is distributed uniformly around the UK, yet chances are not”, represented another a intentional wording, embodying the two halves of a fairness agenda. Initially, talent spread evenly but not cultivated evenly through our learning institutions. Second, access not provided uniformly by employers or our economic system. Therefore, education and business were essential to achieving better life chances. This constituted an agenda about the societal structure of our country – investing in human talent and providing access to chances.

What Levelling Up Became

How did levelling up evolve into under Johnson’s Conservatives? Local investment schemes managed by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Hanging baskets and rearranged intersections. An official policy document was released almost thirty-six months after the leadership change, which saw current strategies rebadged under the recently branded agenda.

Consequently, a wider fairness strategy went undeveloped, as well as all the change that it might have driven – in capital, enterprise, financial planning, tax and in community development. And, of course, in learning, including a higher education sector that has become a target for elected officials – even though it remains the strongest driver of life improvement for young working-class people, like me, this country has had throughout modern times. Perhaps the only engine of social mobility, functioning widely.

Why Hope Matters

Aspiration is vital for our country to thrive. To foster ambition, there needs to be a realistic expectation that effort and reward are linked; that if people aspire, they can attain. For all administrations, being able to create a feeling of hope about the tomorrow is important. Analysis by the academic institution at Bath University and others, recently released, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I introduced as education secretary – community-focused methods to improving education outcomes – led to youth in those areas being up to nearly one-fifth more optimistic about their prospects than those in comparable communities without these programmes in place. The research confirms: just making an sincere effort on pro-social mobility policy can rapidly and effectively change how people feel about their destiny.

Lost Potential

Unaware of these findings, and in the midst of its successor selection process, in that period, the ruling party ended the initiatives. What reason would someone in those areas vote for a political group that made that decision? This specific initiative is a clear case of what might have become a game-changing Tory policy platform on social mobility, but that chance was completely wasted. Strategies such as this can create belief and drive. In contrast, as the Conservatives discovered, reneging on commitments of fair chances is the costliest mistake any government can make. The public penalized the administration for its failure but, above all, for its unfulfilled commitments on social mobility.

Present Circumstances

Currently the mandate on life chances and equality of opportunity has been transferred to a Labour government. The levelling up rhetoric has been cast off. The current administration has its own public messaging of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The party that is gradually replacing the hapless Conservative party, Reform UK, also has its own message – “economic renewal”. It’s a phrase to talk about fresh prospects in regions like the one I come from, in South Yorkshire. It promises that an former economic strength can reincarnate into an industrial future.

For voters, it must appear as a repetitive cycle. Identical problem, different language. Yet, currently, little improvement.

What Must Change

Whether the government and opposition want to escape the identical outcome, both these parties should understand the Conservatives’ failure on social mobility; that equal opportunity talk is one thing, but successful delivery of more equal results is far more challenging. The UK’s persistently low equal opportunity remains the primary challenge for our country, with youth unable to get a proper professional launch, those putting in effort in full-time jobs with minimal progress after the rent has been paid, and people across the country without any actual expectation their children will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Politicians can talk about improved access repeatedly. Yet where is the political group that has the comprehensive policy agenda on social mobility? None appear to exist. Whichever party succeeds initially, prevails. Not only for their party, but, significantly, for a whole country that has never needed equal access so badly.