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As the existentially challenged Tories meets in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has much to ponder regarding its future direction. There is uncertainty if a viable path exists at all. These are tough times for a political party that now has little, if anything, new or unique to say to the electorate.

The Missed Opportunity

Things could have turned out so different if real advances had been made on an policy focus that matters to people across the country: Equal opportunity. However the former leadership hadn’t got the first clue on how to transform the trendy talk on social mobility into concrete action. During the initial period after the general election, it argued over what the term truly represented.

I was perplexed, because I had clearly defined for Johnson what levelling up entailed when we initially discussed about it during his leadership campaign. This terminology was a term I developed and used at the education ministry to talk about social mobility. This became our guiding principle, and its purpose is clear: levelling up is the means by which we achieve fair chances – without removing prospects away from those who already have it, but rather by expanding opportunities to those that lack them.

Fundamental Idea

An additional vital ministry expression we used, “talent is spread evenly throughout the nation, but opportunity is not”, again was a intentional wording, representing the dual components of a fairness agenda. To begin with, talent spread evenly but not cultivated evenly through our schools and colleges. Additionally, access not provided uniformly by businesses or our economic system. Thus, 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

How did the social mobility agenda become under the previous government? Local investment schemes managed by the the relevant ministry. Decorative floral displays and rearranged intersections. A government strategy was published a significant period after the leadership change, which saw existing policy approaches rebadged under the new levelling up banner.

Consequently, a broader social mobility agenda went ignored, as well as all the change that it could have inspired – in capital, commerce, fiscal strategy, tax and in community development. Additionally, in schooling, including a higher education sector that has become a punchbag for politicians of all stripes – even though it remains the most powerful engine of life improvement for individuals from less privileged homes, including myself, this country has had in recent decades. Possibly the sole mechanism of equal opportunity, operating at scale.

The Role of Ambition

Hope is crucial for our country to prosper. To foster ambition, there needs to be a realistic expectation that hard work and results are related; that if people aspire, they can succeed. For political leadership, being able to foster a sense of optimism about the tomorrow is critical. Analysis by the Institute for Policy Research at the university and others, recently released, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I launched while in office – community-focused methods to improving education outcomes – led to young people in those areas being up to nearly one-fifth more positive about their life ahead than those in similar areas without these initiatives in place. The research confirms: just making an authentic start on pro-social mobility policy can quickly and positively change how people view their prospects.

Lost Potential

Unaware of these findings, and in the midst of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in September 2022, the Tory administration closed opportunity areas down. Why would anyone in those areas vote for a political group that made that decision? This specific initiative is a clear case of what had the potential to be a transformative administration strategy on social mobility, but that possibility was totally misused. Strategies such as this can create belief and drive. On the other hand, as the Conservatives learned, breaking the promise of fair chances is the most expensive error any leadership can make. The electorate punished the administration for its failure but, perhaps most of all, for its broken promises on equal opportunity.

Present Circumstances

Now the mandate on equal opportunity and equality of opportunity has been transferred to a Labour government. The levelling up rhetoric has been cast off. The new government has its own political rhetoric of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The party that is steadily supplanting the struggling Tories, the alternative party, also has its own language – “reindustrialisation”. The terminology to talk about additional chances in communities like the one I come from, in my hometown. It claims that an industrial past can revive into an revitalized economy.

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

The Way Forward

Whether the government and opposition want to escape the identical outcome, each group should learn from the previous government’s errors on levelling up; that equal opportunity talk is simple terminology, but successful delivery of fairer outcomes is far more challenging. The UK’s chronically poor social mobility remains the key issue for our country, with the next generation unable to get a good job beginning, those working hard in full-time jobs with minimal progress after the housing costs are covered, and people across the country without any genuine belief their offspring will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Leaders can mention equal chances however much they like. Yet where is the political group that has the comprehensive policy agenda on equal opportunity? I observe no such party. Whoever gets there first, wins. Not just for their organization, but, crucially, for a complete society that has urgently needs fair chances so badly.