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As the beleaguered Conservative party convenes in its conference city for its annual party conference, it has much to ponder regarding its next steps. It’s not even clear if a road forward remains open. These are tough times for a political party that now has almost nothing, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the public.

The Missed Opportunity

The situation might have been so different if tangible progress had been made on an policy focus that matters to people across the country: Levelling up. However Boris Johnson’s government did not possess the slightest idea on how to transform the popular slogan on social mobility into actual implementation. During the initial period after the general election, it debated what the term truly represented.

I was perplexed, because I had clearly defined for Johnson what levelling up entailed when we first spoke about it during his leadership campaign. The expression was a term I developed and used at the Department for Education to talk about social mobility. This became our departmental mantra, and its meaning is clear: social mobility is the means by which we achieve equal access – not by taking prospects away from those who possess it, but rather by providing opportunities to those that don’t.

The Core Concept

An additional vital DfE phrase we used, “ability is distributed uniformly around the UK, however access isn’t”, represented another a intentional wording, representing the dual components of a equal opportunity plan. To begin with, ability distributed uniformly but not cultivated evenly through our learning institutions. Additionally, access not provided uniformly by the private sector or our market. As a result, schools and companies were essential to achieving stronger social mobility. This constituted an agenda about the social fabric of our country – supporting individual capabilities and providing access to chances.

The Reality of Implementation

What did the social mobility agenda become under the previous government? Local investment schemes overseen from the DLUHC. Hanging baskets and redeveloped traffic systems. A white paper was launched almost thirty-six months after Johnson became leader, which saw existing policy approaches relabelled under the fresh social mobility slogan.

Therefore, a wider fairness strategy went undeveloped, as well as all the reform that it might have driven – in funding, business, fiscal strategy, tax and in community development. Moreover, in education, including a university system that has become a punchbag for elected officials – even though it remains the primary vehicle of upward movement for young working-class people, including myself, this country has had over the past 30 years. Perhaps the sole mechanism of social mobility, working extensively.

The Role of Ambition

Aspiration is crucial for our country to thrive. For hope to exist, there needs to be a credible sense that effort and reward are related; that if people dream big, they can succeed. For political leadership, being able to instil a sense of optimism about the future is important. Studies by the Institute for Policy Research at Bath University and others, recently released, showed that the education department’s targeted regions I launched while in office – place-based approaches to enhancing learning results – led to young people in those communities being up to a significant margin more hopeful about their prospects than those in similar areas without these schemes in place. The research confirms: just making an genuine beginning on fair opportunity strategies can swiftly and beneficially change how people feel about their prospects.

Squandered Chances

Ignoring this evidence, and in the throes of its successor selection process, in that period, the Tory administration closed opportunity areas down. Why would anyone in those communities vote for a party that made that decision? The targeted programme is a single instance of what could have been a game-changing administration strategy on social mobility, but that chance was completely wasted. Methods such as this can create belief and drive. On the other hand, as the ruling party found out, breaking the promise of equal opportunity is the biggest blunder any government can make. Voters punished the leadership for its ineffectiveness but, above all, for its unfulfilled commitments on levelling up.

Present Circumstances

Currently the baton on life chances and equal chances has been transferred to a new administration. The previous terminology has been discarded. Labour has its own policy language of “removing obstacles to success”. The organization that is gradually replacing the failing incumbents, Reform UK, also has its own message – “economic renewal”. The terminology to talk about new opportunities in communities like the one I was raised in, in South Yorkshire. It suggests that an historical manufacturing base can reincarnate into an revitalized economy.

For the public, it must feel like a déjà vu experience. Same issue, different language. But – as yet – no results.

Lessons for the Future

Whether the government and opposition want to prevent the similar destiny, both these parties should learn from the Conservatives’ failure on levelling up; that social mobility rhetoric is simple terminology, but effective implementation of improved opportunities is far more challenging. The UK’s chronically poor life chances remains the key issue for our country, with young people unable to get a proper professional launch, those putting in effort in employment with few results after the living expenses are met, and citizens throughout the UK without any actual expectation their children will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Leaders can discuss equal chances as much as they want. However, which party has the party that has the complete plan on social mobility? I see none. Whoever gets there first, succeeds. Not just for their party, but, significantly, for a complete society that has urgently needs fair chances so desperately.