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While the struggling Conservative party gathers in its conference city for its yearly gathering, it has much to ponder regarding its next steps. There is uncertainty if a clear direction exists at all. These are tough times for a governing group that now has little, if anything, new or unique to say to the electorate.

An Alternate Reality

Things could have turned out markedly improved if tangible progress had been made on an policy focus that matters to people nationwide: Equal opportunity. However the former leadership did not possess the slightest idea on how to transform the popular slogan on levelling up into policy reality. Over twenty-four months after the 2019 election, it argued over what the concept truly represented.

I found it bizarre, because I had previously explained to Johnson what social mobility entailed when we first spoke about it during his leadership campaign. The expression was language I created and used at the education ministry to talk about life chances. It was our guiding principle, and its definition is clear: social mobility is the means by which we achieve equal access – not by taking chances away from those who already have it, but rather by extending chances to those that lack them.

Fundamental Idea

The other key DfE phrase we used, “potential is equally shared around the UK, however access isn’t”, served as a deliberate expression, representing the two parts of a social mobility strategy. Initially, talent spread evenly but not cultivated evenly through our learning institutions. Furthermore, opportunities not spread evenly by businesses or our market. Therefore, schools and companies were crucial to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This represented an mission about the societal structure of our country – investing in people’s potential and providing access to chances.

The Reality of Implementation

What did levelling up evolve into under the previous government? A towns fund managed by the the relevant ministry. Decorative floral displays and rearranged intersections. A white paper was launched a significant period after the Prime Minister took office, which saw ongoing initiatives repackaged under the recently branded agenda.

Therefore, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went ignored, as well as all the reform that it may have generated – in capital, enterprise, economic policy, tax and in local regeneration. Additionally, in schooling, including a university system that has become a scapegoat for leaders across parties – although it remains the primary vehicle of life improvement for young working-class people, including myself, this country has had throughout modern times. Possibly the only engine of equal opportunity, functioning widely.

The Role of Ambition

Aspiration is vital for our country to thrive. To foster ambition, there needs to be a credible sense that dedication and outcome are related; that if people aspire, they can attain. For political leadership, being able to foster a sense of optimism about the future is critical. Studies by the research body at Bath University and others, published last month, showed that the education department’s targeted regions I launched while in office – place-based approaches to boosting academic achievement – led to students in those neighborhoods being up to a significant margin more hopeful about their life ahead than those in equivalent locations without these programmes in place. The research confirms: just making an genuine beginning on equal chance initiatives can quickly and positively change how people perceive their prospects.

Lost Potential

Unaware of these findings, and in the midst of its successor selection process, in autumn 2022, 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 single instance of what could have been a game-changing Tory policy platform on levelling up, but that chance was totally misused. Approaches such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. Conversely, as the Conservatives discovered, reneging on commitments of social mobility is the costliest mistake any leadership can make. The electorate punished the government for its ineffectiveness but, above all, for its broken promises on equal opportunity.

The Current Landscape

Currently the baton on life chances and equal chances has been transferred to a Labour government. The previous terminology has been discarded. The new government has its own policy language of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The organization that is increasingly displacing the hapless Tories, the alternative party, also has its own terminology – “economic renewal”. The terminology to talk about fresh prospects in communities like the one I was raised in, in my hometown. It promises that an historical manufacturing base can reincarnate into an industrial future.

For voters, it must appear as a Groundhog Day-style loop. Same issue, new terminology. But – as yet – no results.

What Must Change

Whether the government and opposition want to prevent the identical outcome, the respective organizations should take lessons from the Conservatives’ failure on levelling up; that social mobility rhetoric is simple terminology, but successful delivery of more equal results is significantly more difficult. Our nation’s endemically weak equal opportunity remains the primary challenge for our country, with youth unable to get a proper professional launch, those laboring in occupations with minimal progress after the living expenses are met, and people across the country without any genuine belief their offspring will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Leaders can talk about equal chances however much they like. Yet where is the political group that has the complete plan on life chances? None appear to exist. The first to achieve this, wins. Not only for their organization, but, significantly, for a complete society that has urgently needs fair chances so urgently.