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While the struggling Tories convenes in its conference city for its annual party conference, it has plenty to consider regarding its next steps. Doubt remains if a clear direction is available. We are in tough times for a political party that now has almost nothing, if anything, new or unique to say to the public.

The Missed Opportunity

The situation might have been vastly better if real advances had been made on an policy focus that is important for people throughout the UK: Social mobility. However Boris Johnson’s government lacked the first clue on how to transform the trendy talk on levelling up into policy reality. During the initial period after the general election, it debated what the term actually signified.

It seemed strange to me, because I had previously explained to Johnson what social mobility entailed when we first spoke about it during his leadership campaign. This terminology was a concept I originated and used at the education ministry to talk about equal opportunity. It served as our core mission, and its meaning is clear: social mobility is the means by which we achieve equal access – not by taking prospects away from those who already have it, but rather by extending opportunities to those that don’t.

The Core Concept

An additional vital ministry expression we used, “ability is distributed uniformly throughout the nation, yet chances are not”, again was a intentional wording, embodying the two parts of a fairness agenda. First, talent spread evenly but not nurtured uniformly through our schools and colleges. Second, access not provided uniformly by employers or our economic system. Thus, schools and companies were key to achieving stronger social mobility. This constituted an agenda about the community framework of our country – investing in people’s potential and connecting them to prospects.

What Levelling Up Became

How did the social mobility agenda turn into under Johnson’s Conservatives? Local investment schemes overseen from the the relevant ministry. Decorative floral displays and rearranged intersections. A white paper was published a significant period after Johnson became leader, which saw existing policy approaches repackaged under the recently branded agenda.

As a result, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went ignored, as well as all the change that it may have generated – in funding, business, fiscal strategy, taxation and in local regeneration. Additionally, in schooling, including a tertiary education that has become a scapegoat for leaders across parties – although it remains the strongest driver of upward movement for individuals from less privileged homes, personally, this country has had in recent decades. Possibly the primary source of social mobility, functioning widely.

Why Hope Matters

Hope is crucial for our country to thrive. For hope to exist, there needs to be a credible sense that hard work and results are related; that if people aspire, they can succeed. For political leadership, being able to instil a outlook of positivity about the years ahead is critical. Research by the research body at the university and others, recently released, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I launched while in office – community-focused methods to boosting academic achievement – led to young people in those communities being up to 18 percentage points more optimistic about their future than those in similar areas without these programmes in place. The evidence is clear: just making an authentic start on fair opportunity strategies can rapidly and effectively change how people perceive their destiny.

Squandered Chances

Unaware of these findings, and in the middle of its successor selection process, in autumn 2022, the Conservative government closed opportunity areas down. Why would anyone in those communities vote for a party that made that decision? The targeted programme is one example of what might have become a transformative Conservative government agenda on social mobility, but that opportunity was totally misused. Approaches such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. In contrast, as the ruling party discovered, reneging on commitments of social mobility is the costliest mistake any government can make. The public held accountable the administration for its incompetence but, perhaps most of all, for its unfulfilled commitments on equal opportunity.

Present Circumstances

Currently the responsibility on equal opportunity and equality of opportunity has been taken up by a opposition party. The previous terminology has been discarded. The current administration has its own policy language of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The party that is gradually replacing the failing Conservative party, the alternative party, also has its own message – “reindustrialisation”. The terminology to talk about additional chances in communities like the one I was raised in, in my hometown. It promises that an former economic strength can revive into an modern manufacturing sector.

To the electorate, it must feel like a déjà vu experience. Similar challenge, alternative phrasing. But – as yet – no results.

What Must Change

Should the current and alternative parties want to escape the similar destiny, the respective organizations should understand the Conservatives’ failure on social mobility; that fair chance language is one thing, but effective implementation of improved opportunities is significantly more difficult. 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 laboring in employment with few results after the housing costs are covered, and citizens throughout the UK without any genuine belief their next generation will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Leaders can mention fairer opportunities repeatedly. However, which party has the political group that has the comprehensive policy agenda on social mobility? None appear to exist. Whoever gets there first, prevails. Not only for their party, but, more importantly, for a whole country that has desperately requires equality of opportunity so desperately.