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As the existentially challenged Conservative party convenes in Manchester for its yearly gathering, it has much to ponder regarding its path forward. There is uncertainty if a road forward remains open. These are tough times for a governing group that now has very little, if anything, new or unique to say to voters.

What Could Have Been

Things could have turned out markedly improved if tangible progress had been made on an agenda that is important for people across the country: Levelling up. Yet the former leadership hadn’t got the first clue on how to turn his zeitgeisty rhetoric on levelling up into concrete action. For the two years after the 2019 election, it discussed what the concept truly represented.

I found it bizarre, because I had previously explained to the Prime Minister what levelling up signified when we originally talked about it during his leadership campaign. The phrase was language I created and used at the DfE to talk about social mobility. It served as our core mission, and its definition is straightforward: levelling up is the method by which we attain equal access – not through reducing opportunity away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by extending options to those that lack them.

The Core Concept

Another crucial education department term we used, “talent is spread evenly across our country, however access isn’t”, served as a intentional wording, embodying the two parts of a social mobility strategy. To begin with, talent spread evenly but not cultivated evenly through our education system. Furthermore, access not provided uniformly by the private sector or our economy. Therefore, education and business were essential to achieving stronger social mobility. This constituted an priority about the societal structure of our country – fostering individual capabilities and linking them with chances.

What Levelling Up Became

How did the social mobility agenda evolve into under the previous government? Regional development money administered out of the DLUHC. Decorative floral displays and redeveloped traffic systems. An official policy document was published a significant period after Johnson became leader, which saw current strategies rebadged under the new levelling up banner.

Therefore, a wider fairness strategy went ignored, as well as all the reform that it might have driven – in capital, business, financial planning, revenue and in place-making. Moreover, in schooling, including a tertiary education that has become a scapegoat for politicians of all stripes – despite the fact that it remains the primary vehicle of social mobility for individuals from less privileged homes, like me, this country has had throughout modern times. Possibly the sole mechanism of social mobility, operating at scale.

Why Hope Matters

Ambition is essential for our country to succeed. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a credible sense that effort and reward are related; that if people aim high, they can succeed. For all administrations, being able to instil a feeling of hope about the tomorrow is critical. Studies by the Institute for Policy Research at the academic establishment and others, published last month, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I established during my tenure – locally targeted strategies to improving education outcomes – led to youth in those communities being up to nearly one-fifth more positive about their life ahead than those in comparable communities without these programmes in place. The research confirms: just making an sincere effort on equal chance initiatives can rapidly and effectively change how people perceive their prospects.

Missed Opportunities

Oblivious to this, and in the throes of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in autumn 2022, the Tory administration ended the initiatives. Why would anyone in those regions vote for a organization that did that? The opportunity areas policy is a clear case of what had the potential to be a game-changing administration strategy on social mobility, but that chance was hopelessly squandered. Strategies such as this can generate optimism and ambition. On the other hand, as the Conservatives discovered, failing to deliver of fair chances is the most expensive error any government can make. The electorate penalized the government for its failure but, above all, for its unfulfilled commitments on levelling up.

Today’s Political Reality

At present the responsibility on equal opportunity and equal chances has passed to a opposition party. The levelling up rhetoric has been abandoned. Labour has its own policy language of “removing obstacles to success”. The organization that is gradually replacing the struggling Tories, the alternative party, also has its own language – “industrial revival”. The terminology to talk about fresh prospects in regions like the one I grew up in, in the region. It claims that an industrial past can revive into an industrial future.

To the electorate, it must feel like a repetitive cycle. Identical problem, new terminology. But – as yet – no results.

The Way Forward

If Labour and Reform UK want to escape the similar destiny, both these parties should take lessons from the previous government’s errors on levelling up; that fair chance language is simple terminology, but actual achievement of improved opportunities is far more challenging. The UK’s chronically poor life chances remains the key issue for our country, with young people unable to get a decent career start, those putting in effort in employment with minimal progress after the rent has been paid, and individuals nationwide without any genuine belief their children will be able to do improve in life than they have.

Politicians can mention fairer opportunities as much as they want. But where is the organization that has the complete plan on social mobility? I see none. The first to achieve this, succeeds. Not only for themselves, but, more importantly, for a whole country that has desperately requires equal access so badly.