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As the struggling Conservative party meets in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its future direction. Doubt remains if a clear direction remains open. We are in difficult days for a political party that now has little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the electorate.

An Alternate Reality

Things could have turned out markedly improved if concrete steps had been made on an priority that resonates with people across the country: Levelling up. However the former leadership did not possess the slightest idea on how to convert his zeitgeisty rhetoric on social mobility into policy reality. During the initial period after the general election, it debated what the phrase actually signified.

It seemed strange to me, because I had clearly defined for the Prime Minister what social mobility meant when we first spoke about it during the contest for party leader. The phrase was language I created and used at the DfE to talk about social mobility. This became our departmental mantra, and its purpose is unambiguous: levelling up is the approach by which we realize fair chances – not through reducing opportunity away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by extending chances to those that are without.

Fundamental Idea

An additional vital DfE phrase we used, “talent is spread evenly throughout the nation, however access isn’t”, served as a deliberate expression, representing the two parts of a fairness agenda. To begin with, potential shared equally but not cultivated evenly through our learning institutions. Additionally, opportunities not spread evenly by the private sector or our market. Thus, education and business were crucial to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This was an mission about the societal structure of our country – supporting human talent and providing access to opportunities.

The Reality of Implementation

What did levelling up become under Johnson’s Conservatives? Local investment schemes overseen from the DLUHC. Decorative floral displays and rearranged intersections. An official policy document was launched a significant period after the leadership change, which saw current strategies relabelled under the recently branded agenda.

As a result, a broader social mobility agenda went unpursued, as well as all the change that it may have generated – in capital, enterprise, financial planning, revenue and in local regeneration. Moreover, in learning, including a higher education sector that has become a target for leaders across parties – even though it remains the strongest driver of social mobility for individuals from less privileged homes, like me, this country has had in recent decades. Perhaps the only engine of fair chances, working extensively.

The Role of Ambition

Hope is crucial for our country to succeed. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a believable feeling that dedication and outcome are connected; that if people aim high, they can succeed. For any government, being able to create a outlook of positivity about the tomorrow is important. Studies by the Institute for Policy Research at Bath University and others, published last month, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I established during my tenure – community-focused methods to boosting academic achievement – led to students in those communities 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 genuine beginning on fair opportunity strategies can swiftly and beneficially change how people perceive their destiny.

Squandered Chances

Oblivious to this, and in the middle of its successor selection process, in September 2022, the Tory administration terminated the programmes. Why would anyone in those communities vote for a party that made that decision? The targeted programme is a single instance of what could have been a revolutionary Conservative government agenda on levelling up, but that chance was hopelessly squandered. Methods such as this can generate optimism and ambition. On the other hand, as the Conservatives found out, breaking the promise of fair chances is the costliest mistake any government can make. The public penalized the leadership for its failure but, above all, for its broken promises on levelling up.

The Current Landscape

Now the mandate on equal opportunity and fair access has been transferred to a new administration. The old slogan has been discarded. The current administration has its own public messaging of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The political group that is gradually replacing the hapless Conservative party, the challenger, also has its own language – “economic renewal”. It’s a phrase to talk about additional chances in areas like the one I come from, in South Yorkshire. It promises that an historical manufacturing base can revive into an revitalized economy.

To the electorate, it must feel like a déjà vu experience. Identical problem, different language. However, so far, no progress.

Lessons for the Future

Should the current and alternative parties want to avoid the similar destiny, the respective organizations should understand the Tories’ mistakes on levelling up; that fair chance language is simple terminology, but successful delivery of fairer outcomes is far more challenging. Our nation’s chronically poor social mobility remains the central problem for our country, with young people unable to get a good job beginning, those putting in effort in employment with minimal progress after the housing costs are covered, and people across the country without any real hope their next generation will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Leaders can talk about fairer opportunities as much as they want. However, which party has the organization that has the comprehensive policy agenda on life chances? I observe no such party. The first to achieve this, prevails. Not just for their party, but, crucially, for a entire nation that has urgently needs equal access so urgently.