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As the existentially challenged Tories convenes in its conference city for its annual party conference, it has much to ponder regarding its future direction. There is uncertainty if a road forward is available. We are in tough times for a political party that now has almost nothing, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the electorate.

The Missed Opportunity

Things could have turned out so different if concrete steps had been made on an agenda that matters to people across the country: Equal opportunity. But the previous administration lacked the slightest idea on how to transform the trendy talk on levelling up into concrete action. For the two years after the 2019 election, it debated what the phrase actually signified.

It seemed strange to me, because I had clearly defined for Johnson what levelling up meant when we originally talked about it during his leadership campaign. This terminology was language I created and used at the DfE to talk about life chances. This became our departmental mantra, and its definition is straightforward: social mobility is the means by which we achieve equality of opportunity – not through reducing prospects 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 around the UK, however access isn’t”, served as a intentional wording, embodying the dual components of a social mobility strategy. Initially, talent spread evenly but not developed consistently through our schools and colleges. Additionally, opportunities not spread evenly by the private sector or our market. Thus, schools and companies were key to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This represented an mission about the community framework of our country – investing in people’s potential and linking them with chances.

The Actual Outcome

How did the social mobility agenda turn into under the Tory administration? Regional development money overseen from the DLUHC. Street beautification and reconfigured roundabouts and roads. An official policy document was released nearly three years after the Prime Minister took office, which saw ongoing initiatives relabelled under the recently branded agenda.

Consequently, a broader social mobility agenda went undeveloped, as well as all the reform that it might have driven – in investment, commerce, fiscal strategy, revenue and in place-making. Moreover, in education, including a tertiary education that has become a target for elected officials – although it remains the strongest driver of upward movement for young working-class people, personally, this country has had in recent decades. Perhaps the sole mechanism of fair chances, operating at scale.

The Importance of Aspiration

Aspiration is crucial for our country to thrive. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a believable feeling that effort and reward are linked; that if people aspire, they can succeed. For any government, being able to create a feeling of hope about the tomorrow is crucial. Studies by the Institute for Policy Research at the academic establishment and others, newly available, showed that the education department’s targeted regions I established during my tenure – place-based approaches to enhancing learning results – led to youth in those communities being up to 18 percentage points more optimistic about their prospects than those in similar areas without these programmes in place. The research confirms: just making an authentic start on pro-social mobility policy can swiftly and beneficially change how people perceive their destiny.

Lost Potential

Oblivious to this, and in the midst of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in September 2022, the ruling party ended the initiatives. Why would anyone in those areas vote for a party that made that decision? The opportunity areas policy is a single instance of what could have been a transformative Tory policy platform on social mobility, but that chance was totally misused. Methods such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. Conversely, as the Conservatives discovered, breaking the promise of fair chances is the costliest mistake any government can make. Voters punished the leadership for its incompetence but, primarily, for its broken promises on social mobility.

The Current Landscape

Now the responsibility on social mobility and fair access has passed to a Labour government. The previous terminology has been cast off. The current administration has its own policy language of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The organization that is increasingly displacing the hapless Conservative party, the alternative party, also has its own message – “industrial revival”. It’s a phrase to talk about fresh prospects in communities like the one I come from, in South Yorkshire. It suggests that an industrial past can reincarnate into an industrial future.

To the electorate, it must seem like a Groundhog Day-style loop. Identical problem, alternative phrasing. However, so far, no progress.

What Must Change

Should the current and alternative parties want to prevent the identical outcome, both these parties should take lessons from the previous government’s errors on social mobility; that social mobility rhetoric is simple terminology, but effective implementation of more equal results is far more challenging. Britain’s endemically weak life chances remains the central problem for our country, with young people unable to get a proper professional launch, those working hard in employment with minimal progress after the living expenses are met, and people across the country without any real hope their offspring will be able to do improve in life than they have.

Politicians can mention fairer opportunities repeatedly. Yet where is the organization that has the comprehensive policy agenda on life chances? I observe no such party. Whichever party succeeds initially, wins. Not only for their party, but, crucially, for a complete society that has urgently needs equal access so urgently.