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As the beleaguered Tories convenes in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has plenty to consider regarding its future direction. Doubt remains if a viable path is available. We are in tough times for a political party that now has little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the public.

The Missed Opportunity

It could have been markedly improved if tangible progress had been made on an policy focus that is important for people throughout the UK: Levelling up. Yet the former leadership did not possess the first clue on how to turn the trendy talk on social mobility into concrete action. Over twenty-four months after the general election, it debated what the term actually signified.

It seemed strange to me, because I had previously explained to Johnson what levelling up signified when we originally talked about it during his leadership campaign. The expression was a concept I originated and used at the DfE to talk about life chances. It was our core mission, and its definition is straightforward: social mobility is the means by which we attain equality of opportunity – without removing chances away from those who already have it, but rather by extending options to those that lack them.

Fundamental Idea

The other key education department term we used, “potential is equally shared throughout the nation, yet chances are not”, represented another a deliberate expression, reflecting the dual components of a equal opportunity plan. First, talent spread evenly but not cultivated evenly through our schools and colleges. Furthermore, opportunities not spread evenly by employers or our market. As a result, schools and companies were crucial to achieving stronger social mobility. This was an mission about the societal structure of our country – fostering human talent and linking them with chances.

What Levelling Up Became

How did the social mobility agenda evolve into under the Tory administration? A towns fund administered out of the DLUHC. Hanging baskets and rearranged intersections. An official policy document was launched a significant period after the leadership change, which saw current strategies repackaged under the recently branded agenda.

As a result, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went unpursued, as well as all the improvement that it could have inspired – in funding, business, financial planning, revenue and in local regeneration. And, of course, in learning, 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, like me, this country has had throughout modern times. Perhaps the only engine of equal opportunity, working extensively.

The Role of Ambition

Aspiration is crucial for our country to thrive. For hope to exist, there needs to be a realistic expectation that dedication and outcome are connected; that if people aim high, they can attain. For all administrations, being able to create a outlook of positivity about the tomorrow is crucial. Studies by the Institute for Policy Research at Bath University and others, published last month, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I launched while in office – locally targeted strategies to boosting academic achievement – led to students in those communities being up to a significant margin more optimistic about their life ahead than those in equivalent locations without these schemes in place. The research confirms: just making an authentic start on fair opportunity strategies can swiftly and beneficially change how people view their prospects.

Missed Opportunities

Ignoring this evidence, and in the middle of its new leader election, in that period, the Conservative government closed opportunity areas down. Why should any person in those regions vote for a organization that did that? The opportunity areas policy is a single instance of what might have become a transformative Tory policy platform on social mobility, but that opportunity was completely wasted. Methods such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. On the other hand, as the ruling party learned, failing to deliver of social mobility is the costliest mistake any government can make. The public held accountable the leadership for its incompetence but, above all, for its unfulfilled commitments on social mobility.

Today’s Political Reality

Currently the baton on equal opportunity and equality of opportunity has been taken up by a opposition party. The old slogan has been cast off. The current administration has its own policy language of “breaking down the barriers to opportunity”. The political group that is increasingly displacing the struggling Conservative party, Reform UK, also has its own message – “industrial revival”. The terminology to talk about fresh prospects in regions like the one I was raised in, in my hometown. It promises that an industrial past can be reborn into an revitalized economy.

For voters, it must seem like a déjà vu experience. Same issue, new terminology. But – as yet – no results.

What Must Change

Should the current and alternative parties want to avoid the same fate, the respective organizations should understand the previous government’s errors on levelling up; that social mobility rhetoric is one thing, but successful delivery of improved opportunities is much harder. Britain’s endemically weak social mobility remains the key issue for our country, with the next generation unable to get a proper professional launch, those laboring in employment with minimal progress after the rent has been paid, and citizens throughout the UK without any real hope their offspring will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Elected officials can discuss equal chances however much they like. Yet where is the party that has the comprehensive policy agenda on life chances? I see none. Whoever gets there first, succeeds. Not only for their organization, but, more importantly, for a entire nation that has desperately requires fair chances so badly.