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As the beleaguered Tories gathers in its conference city for its annual party conference, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its next steps. There is uncertainty if a clear direction remains open. These are challenging circumstances for a political party that now has little, if anything, new or unique to say to the public.

The Missed Opportunity

The situation might have been so different if real advances had been made on an policy focus that resonates with people nationwide: Social mobility. But the former leadership did not possess the slightest idea on how to turn the popular slogan on levelling up into concrete action. For the two years after the general election, it argued over what the term even meant.

I found it bizarre, because I had previously explained to Johnson what social mobility entailed when we originally talked about it during his leadership campaign. The phrase was a term I developed and used at the DfE to talk about equal opportunity. It was our core mission, and its meaning is clear: social mobility is the approach by which we realize equal access – without removing prospects away from those who already have it, but rather by expanding chances to those that lack them.

Fundamental Idea

Another crucial education department term we used, “potential is equally shared across our country, yet chances are not”, represented another a intentional wording, reflecting the dual components of a equal opportunity plan. First, talent spread evenly but not developed consistently through our education system. Second, chances not distributed fairly by employers or our market. Thus, education and business were key to achieving stronger social mobility. This constituted an mission about the societal structure of our country – investing in human talent and connecting them to prospects.

The Actual Outcome

What did the social mobility agenda turn into under the previous government? Regional development money overseen from the the relevant ministry. Street beautification and rearranged intersections. A government strategy was launched almost thirty-six months after Johnson became leader, which saw current strategies repackaged under the new levelling up banner.

Therefore, a wider fairness strategy went undeveloped, as well as all the change that it might have driven – in investment, business, financial planning, tax and in community development. Moreover, in learning, including a university system that has become a target for leaders across parties – although it remains the primary vehicle of life improvement for young working-class people, personally, this country has had in recent decades. Maybe the primary source of equal opportunity, working extensively.

The Role of Ambition

Hope is vital for our country to prosper. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a credible sense that dedication and outcome are related; that if people dream big, they can succeed. For any government, being able to instil a sense of optimism about the years ahead is critical. Research by the Institute for Policy Research at the academic establishment and others, newly available, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I launched while in office – locally targeted strategies to enhancing learning results – led to students in those neighborhoods being up to nearly one-fifth more optimistic about their prospects than those in equivalent locations without these initiatives in place. The evidence is clear: just making an authentic start on equal chance initiatives can quickly and positively change how people perceive their future.

Squandered Chances

Ignoring this evidence, and in the middle of its new leader election, in autumn 2022, the Tory administration ended the initiatives. Why should any person in those areas vote for a party that made that decision? The targeted programme is a clear case of what could have been a game-changing Conservative government agenda on social mobility, but that chance was hopelessly squandered. Methods such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. On the other hand, as the Tories learned, failing to deliver of equal opportunity is the biggest blunder any political party can make. The public held accountable the leadership for its incompetence but, above all, for its unfulfilled commitments on equal opportunity.

The Current Landscape

Currently the responsibility on equal opportunity and fair access has been taken up by a Labour government. The levelling up rhetoric has been abandoned. The new government has its own policy language of “removing obstacles to success”. The party that is increasingly displacing the struggling Tories, the alternative party, also has its own message – “industrial revival”. It’s a phrase to talk about new opportunities in regions like the one I was raised in, in South Yorkshire. It claims that an historical manufacturing base can reincarnate into an modern manufacturing sector.

For voters, it must feel like a déjà vu experience. Similar challenge, alternative phrasing. Yet, currently, little improvement.

The Way Forward

Should the current and alternative parties want to prevent the similar destiny, both these parties should understand the Tories’ mistakes on social mobility; that equal opportunity talk is simple terminology, but actual achievement of fairer outcomes is far more challenging. Our nation’s chronically poor social mobility remains the central problem for our country, with the next generation unable to get a good job beginning, those laboring in full-time jobs with few results after the rent has been paid, 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 fairer opportunities however much they like. Yet where is the political group that has the comprehensive policy agenda on life chances? I see none. Whichever party succeeds initially, succeeds. Not only for themselves, but, more importantly, for a entire nation that has never needed equality of opportunity so desperately.