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As the struggling Conservative party convenes in its conference city for its yearly gathering, it has plenty to consider regarding its next steps. Doubt remains if a viable path remains open. These are tough times for a political party that now has very little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the electorate.

What Could Have Been

The situation might have been markedly improved if real advances had been made on an policy focus that resonates with people throughout the UK: Levelling up. Yet the former leadership hadn’t got the slightest idea on how to turn the popular slogan on levelling up into concrete action. Over twenty-four months after the 2019 election, it debated what the phrase truly represented.

I was perplexed, because I had previously explained to the Prime Minister what social mobility signified when we originally talked about it during the contest for party leader. The phrase was a concept I originated and used at the education ministry to talk about equal opportunity. It served as our departmental mantra, and its meaning is clear: social mobility is the means by which we attain equality of opportunity – not by taking chances away from those who already have it, but rather by extending options to those that don’t.

The Core Concept

Another crucial DfE phrase we used, “ability is distributed uniformly throughout the nation, but opportunity is not”, served as a purposeful phrase, representing the two parts of a equal opportunity plan. Initially, ability distributed uniformly but not nurtured uniformly through our education system. Furthermore, chances not distributed fairly by the private sector or our economy. As a result, education and business were key to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This represented an mission about the community framework of our country – supporting people’s potential and linking them with chances.

What Levelling Up Became

What did levelling up become under Johnson’s Conservatives? Regional development money overseen from the DLUHC. Decorative floral displays and reconfigured roundabouts and roads. An official policy document was released almost thirty-six months after Johnson became leader, which saw current strategies relabelled under the recently branded agenda.

Therefore, a broader social mobility agenda went undeveloped, as well as all the improvement that it may have generated – in capital, commerce, financial planning, revenue and in community development. Additionally, in schooling, including a higher education sector that has become a punchbag for leaders across parties – despite the fact that it remains the most powerful engine of upward movement for young working-class people, personally, this country has had in recent decades. Perhaps the primary source of equal opportunity, functioning widely.

The Role of Ambition

Ambition is essential for our country to succeed. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a believable feeling that hard work and results are related; that if people aim high, they can attain. For political leadership, being able to foster a sense of optimism about the years ahead is important. Studies by the research body at the academic establishment and others, newly available, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I introduced as education secretary – community-focused methods to boosting academic achievement – led to students in those areas being up to a significant margin more hopeful about their prospects than those in similar areas without these initiatives in place. The evidence is clear: just making an genuine beginning on fair opportunity strategies can quickly and positively change how people view their destiny.

Lost Potential

Unaware of these findings, and in the throes of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in autumn 2022, the ruling party ended the initiatives. What reason would someone in those areas vote for a organization that took that action? The opportunity areas policy is a single instance of what might have become a revolutionary Conservative government agenda on social mobility, but that opportunity was totally misused. Methods such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. Conversely, as the Conservatives learned, reneging on commitments of fair chances is the most expensive error any political party can make. The electorate held accountable the government for its incompetence but, above all, for its unfulfilled commitments on equal opportunity.

Present Circumstances

Now the baton on equal opportunity and equality of opportunity has been taken up by a new administration. The previous terminology has been abandoned. The new government has its own policy language of “breaking down the barriers to opportunity”. The political group that is increasingly displacing the failing Conservative party, the alternative party, also has its own terminology – “reindustrialisation”. This expression to talk about fresh prospects in areas like the one I grew up in, in the region. It promises that an former economic strength can revive into an modern manufacturing sector.

To the electorate, it must appear as a Groundhog Day-style loop. Identical problem, different language. Yet, currently, little improvement.

The Way Forward

Whether the government and opposition want to escape the identical outcome, both these parties should learn from the Tories’ mistakes on levelling up; that equal opportunity talk is simple terminology, but effective implementation of improved opportunities is much harder. Britain’s persistently low life chances remains the central problem for our country, with youth unable to get a proper professional launch, those working hard in occupations with little to show after the living expenses are met, and people across the country without any actual expectation their offspring will be able to do improve in life than they have.

Politicians can mention improved access as much as they want. Yet where is the party that has the comprehensive policy agenda on equal opportunity? I observe no such party. Whoever gets there first, succeeds. Not just for their organization, but, more importantly, for a complete society that has desperately requires equality of opportunity so badly.