As the original author championed social mobility as the essential to Tory electoral victory – but the former Prime Minister failed to deliver. Observe the consequences.

As the beleaguered Conservative party gathers in its conference city for its annual party conference, it has much to ponder regarding its path forward. Doubt remains if a viable path exists at all. These are challenging circumstances for a governing group that now has very little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to voters.

The Missed Opportunity

Things could have turned out vastly better if tangible progress had been made on an priority that resonates with people nationwide: Social mobility. However the previous administration did not possess the first clue on how to convert his zeitgeisty rhetoric on levelling up into concrete action. For the two years after the 2019 election, it debated what the phrase truly represented.

I was perplexed, because I had clearly defined for Johnson what levelling up meant when we initially discussed about it during the contest for party leader. The phrase was a concept I originated and used at the education ministry to talk about social mobility. It served as our core mission, and its definition is clear: social mobility is the approach by which we realize fair chances – not through reducing opportunity away from those who already have it, but rather by expanding options to those that are without.

The Core Concept

Another crucial education department term we used, “talent is spread evenly around the UK, however access isn’t”, represented another a intentional wording, embodying the two halves of a equal opportunity plan. First, ability distributed uniformly but not cultivated evenly through our learning institutions. Furthermore, access not provided uniformly by the private sector or our market. Therefore, schools and companies were essential to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This constituted an priority about the social fabric of our country – fostering human talent and linking them with opportunities.

The Actual Outcome

How did the social mobility agenda evolve into under the previous government? Local investment schemes administered out of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Decorative floral displays and redeveloped traffic systems. A white paper was published almost thirty-six months after the leadership change, which saw ongoing initiatives relabelled under the new levelling up banner.

Consequently, a wider fairness strategy went undeveloped, as well as all the improvement that it may have generated – in capital, commerce, fiscal strategy, revenue and in local regeneration. Additionally, in schooling, including a tertiary education that has become a scapegoat for politicians of all stripes – even though it remains the most powerful engine of social mobility for individuals from less privileged homes, personally, this country has had in recent decades. Maybe the primary source of social mobility, functioning widely.

Why Hope Matters

Ambition is essential for our country to succeed. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a believable feeling that effort and reward are linked; that if people dream big, they can achieve. For all administrations, being able to create a feeling of hope about the years ahead is crucial. Studies by the Institute for Policy Research at Bath University and others, newly available, showed that the education department’s targeted regions I introduced as education secretary – locally targeted strategies to enhancing learning results – led to youth in those areas being up to a significant margin more hopeful about their prospects than those in comparable communities without these initiatives in place. The evidence is clear: just making an authentic start on pro-social mobility policy can rapidly and effectively change how people view their future.

Squandered Chances

Ignoring this evidence, and in the throes of its successor selection process, in September 2022, the Tory administration terminated the programmes. Why should any person in those regions vote for a party that took that action? The opportunity areas policy is one example of what had the potential to be a revolutionary Tory policy platform on social mobility, but that chance was completely wasted. Strategies such as this can create belief and drive. On the other hand, as the ruling party learned, reneging on commitments of equal opportunity is the biggest blunder any political party can make. The public punished the government for its ineffectiveness but, above all, for its unfulfilled commitments on equal opportunity.

Today’s Political Reality

Currently the responsibility on social mobility and equality of opportunity has been taken up by a new administration. 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, Reform UK, also has its own language – “industrial revival”. It’s a phrase to talk about additional chances in communities like the one I grew up in, in the region. It suggests that an industrial past can reincarnate into an industrial future.

To the electorate, it must feel like a Groundhog Day-style loop. Same issue, alternative phrasing. However, so far, no progress.

What Must Change

Should the current and alternative parties want to escape the identical outcome, both these parties should understand the Conservatives’ failure on levelling up; that social mobility rhetoric is easy to say, but actual achievement of more equal results is significantly more difficult. The UK’s chronically poor equal opportunity remains the primary challenge for our country, with youth unable to get a proper professional launch, those putting in effort in full-time jobs with few results after the rent has been paid, and people across the country without any actual expectation their children will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Leaders can discuss fairer opportunities as much as they want. But where is the organization that has the thorough strategy on equal opportunity? I see none. Whichever party succeeds initially, prevails. Not just for their organization, but, crucially, for a entire nation that has urgently needs equal access so badly.