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As the struggling Conservative party gathers in Manchester for its yearly gathering, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its path forward. Doubt remains if a clear direction remains open. We are in tough times for a governing group that now has little, if anything, new or unique to say to voters.

What Could Have Been

It could have been so different if real advances had been made on an priority that matters to people nationwide: Equal opportunity. But the previous administration lacked the slightest idea on how to transform the popular slogan on levelling up into actual implementation. During the initial period after the 2019 election, it discussed what the concept truly represented.

I was perplexed, because I had clearly defined for the Prime Minister what social mobility meant when we first spoke about it during his leadership campaign. This terminology was language I created and used at the education ministry to talk about life chances. This became our departmental mantra, and its meaning is straightforward: social mobility is the method by which we realize equal access – not by taking prospects away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by providing opportunities to those that are without.

Fundamental Idea

An additional vital DfE phrase we used, “ability is distributed uniformly across our country, but opportunity is not”, served as a purposeful phrase, representing the two halves of a fairness agenda. First, ability distributed uniformly but not developed consistently through our schools and colleges. Furthermore, opportunities not spread evenly by the private sector or our economic system. Thus, learning and employment were key to achieving better life chances. This was 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? Local investment schemes overseen from the DLUHC. Decorative floral displays and reconfigured roundabouts and roads. An official policy document was released almost thirty-six months after Johnson became leader, which saw current strategies rebadged under the fresh social mobility slogan.

As a result, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went ignored, as well as all the improvement that it may have generated – in funding, business, financial planning, revenue and in local regeneration. Additionally, in education, including a higher education sector that has become a scapegoat for politicians of all stripes – even though it remains the strongest driver of social mobility for individuals from less privileged homes, personally, this country has had over the past 30 years. Maybe the primary source of equal opportunity, working extensively.

The Role of Ambition

Hope is essential for our country to succeed. For hope to exist, there needs to be a credible sense that hard work and results are related; that if people dream big, they can achieve. For all administrations, being able to create a outlook of positivity about the future is crucial. Research by the Institute for Policy Research at the university and others, recently released, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I established during my tenure – place-based approaches to improving education outcomes – led to young people in those areas being up to nearly one-fifth more optimistic about their prospects than those in equivalent locations without these initiatives in place. The research confirms: just making an sincere effort on equal chance initiatives can rapidly and effectively change how people feel about their prospects.

Squandered Chances

Unaware of these findings, and in the middle of its new leader election, in autumn 2022, the Conservative government closed opportunity areas down. Why would anyone in those regions vote for a party that made that decision? The targeted programme is a clear case of what could have been a revolutionary Conservative government agenda on levelling up, but that opportunity was totally misused. Strategies such as this can generate optimism and ambition. Conversely, as the ruling party learned, reneging on commitments of social mobility is the biggest blunder any leadership can make. Voters penalized the government for its failure but, above all, for its broken promises on social mobility.

Today’s Political Reality

Currently the mandate on equal opportunity and equality of opportunity has passed to a Labour government. The previous terminology has been abandoned. The new government has its own policy language of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The organization that is gradually replacing the struggling incumbents, the challenger, also has its own terminology – “reindustrialisation”. This expression to talk about fresh prospects in areas like the one I come from, in South Yorkshire. It suggests that an historical manufacturing base can be reborn into an industrial future.

For voters, it must appear as a repetitive cycle. Identical problem, alternative phrasing. However, so far, no progress.

Lessons for the Future

Whether the government and opposition want to prevent the same fate, the respective organizations should take lessons from the Conservatives’ failure on levelling up; that equal opportunity talk is simple terminology, but successful delivery of fairer outcomes is far more challenging. Britain’s chronically poor life chances remains the key issue for our country, with youth unable to get a good job beginning, those laboring in full-time jobs with little to show after the rent has been paid, and people across the country without any actual expectation their offspring will be able to do improve in life than they have.

Leaders can talk about improved access repeatedly. However, which party has the organization that has the complete plan on life chances? None appear to exist. Whichever party succeeds initially, wins. Not just for themselves, but, significantly, for a complete society that has never needed equality of opportunity so desperately.