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As the existentially challenged Conservative party gathers in its conference city for its yearly gathering, it has plenty to consider regarding its next steps. There is uncertainty if a viable path exists at all. These are challenging circumstances for a political party that now has little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to voters.

An Alternate Reality

It could have been so different if tangible progress had been made on an priority that resonates with people nationwide: Social mobility. However the former leadership did not possess the slightest idea on how to transform his zeitgeisty rhetoric on social mobility into actual implementation. During the initial period after the 2019 election, it debated what the concept truly represented.

It seemed strange to me, because I had previously explained to the Prime Minister what social mobility entailed when we initially discussed about it during his leadership campaign. The expression was language I created and used at the Department for Education to talk about social mobility. It served as our guiding principle, and its meaning is unambiguous: social mobility is the means by which we attain equal access – not through reducing prospects away from those who possess it, but rather by extending opportunities to those that are without.

The Core Concept

The other key DfE phrase we used, “potential is equally shared across our country, but opportunity is not”, served as a deliberate expression, representing the two parts of a equal opportunity plan. First, ability distributed uniformly but not developed consistently through our education system. Second, access not provided uniformly by employers or our economy. As a result, education and business were essential to achieving better life chances. This constituted an mission about the social fabric of our country – investing in human talent and providing access to chances.

The Actual Outcome

How did the social mobility agenda evolve into under Johnson’s Conservatives? Regional development money overseen from the DLUHC. Decorative floral displays and rearranged intersections. A white paper was launched nearly three years after Johnson became leader, which saw ongoing initiatives relabelled under the new levelling up banner.

Therefore, a wider fairness strategy went unpursued, as well as all the reform that it could have inspired – in investment, business, fiscal strategy, revenue and in community development. And, of course, in learning, including a tertiary education that has become a punchbag for politicians of all stripes – even though it remains the primary vehicle of life improvement for individuals from less privileged homes, including myself, this country has had over the past 30 years. Maybe the only engine of fair chances, operating at scale.

The Role of Ambition

Ambition is crucial for our country to thrive. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a realistic expectation that dedication and outcome are related; that if people aspire, they can attain. For political leadership, being able to create a feeling of hope about the future is critical. Analysis 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 young people in those neighborhoods being up to 18 percentage points more optimistic about their life ahead than those in equivalent locations without these programmes in place. The evidence is clear: just making an genuine beginning on equal chance initiatives can rapidly and effectively change how people perceive their prospects.

Lost Potential

Ignoring this evidence, and in the throes of its successor selection process, in September 2022, the ruling party terminated the programmes. What reason would someone in those communities vote for a political group that took that action? The opportunity areas policy is one example of what had the potential to be a revolutionary administration strategy on levelling up, but that opportunity was completely wasted. Approaches such as this can generate optimism and ambition. Conversely, as the Conservatives found out, failing to deliver of social mobility is the most expensive error any leadership can make. Voters penalized the government for its ineffectiveness but, above all, for its failed pledges on equal opportunity.

Present Circumstances

At present the mandate on life chances and equal chances has passed to a Labour government. The old slogan has been discarded. The current administration has its own policy language of “removing obstacles to success”. The party that is steadily supplanting the failing Tories, the challenger, also has its own message – “economic renewal”. It’s a phrase to talk about new opportunities in regions like the one I come from, in my hometown. It claims that an industrial past can reincarnate into an modern manufacturing sector.

To the electorate, it must appear as a déjà vu experience. Similar challenge, alternative phrasing. But – as yet – no results.

The Way Forward

If Labour and Reform UK want to avoid the same fate, both these parties should understand the Conservatives’ failure on social mobility; that equal opportunity talk is simple terminology, but effective implementation of more equal results is far more challenging. Our nation’s persistently low life chances remains the key issue for our country, with youth unable to get a decent career start, those laboring in occupations with minimal progress after the rent has been paid, and individuals nationwide without any real hope their children will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Leaders can discuss improved access as much as they want. Yet where is the organization that has the complete plan on social mobility? None appear to exist. Whoever gets there first, succeeds. Not only for their party, but, more importantly, for a complete society that has desperately requires equality of opportunity so urgently.