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As the struggling Tories gathers in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has plenty to consider regarding its future direction. Doubt remains if a road forward exists at all. These are tough times for a political party that now has very little, if anything, new or unique to say to the public.

An Alternate Reality

It could have been vastly better if tangible progress had been made on an priority that is important for people throughout the UK: Social mobility. However Boris Johnson’s government lacked the basic understanding on how to turn the trendy talk on levelling up into actual implementation. Over twenty-four months after the general election, it argued over what the term actually signified.

I found it bizarre, because I had previously explained to the Prime Minister what levelling up meant when we originally talked about it during the contest for party leader. The expression was language I created and used at the DfE to talk about equal opportunity. It served as our departmental mantra, and its meaning is unambiguous: levelling up is the means by which we attain equal access – not by taking prospects away from those who possess it, but rather by extending opportunities to those that don’t.

The Core Concept

The other key ministry expression we used, “talent is spread evenly across our country, however access isn’t”, represented another a deliberate expression, representing the two parts of a equal opportunity plan. Initially, potential shared equally but not nurtured uniformly through our learning institutions. Second, chances not distributed fairly by the private sector or our market. Therefore, learning and employment were key to achieving better life chances. This constituted an mission about the community framework of our country – fostering human talent and providing access to opportunities.

The Actual Outcome

How did levelling up evolve into under the previous government? Local investment schemes managed by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Hanging baskets and rearranged intersections. A white paper was published almost thirty-six months after the leadership change, which saw current strategies relabelled under the recently branded agenda.

Consequently, a wider fairness strategy went unpursued, as well as all the reform that it might have driven – in funding, business, financial planning, revenue and in place-making. Additionally, in learning, including a tertiary education that has become a scapegoat for elected officials – despite the fact that it remains the most powerful engine of life improvement for young working-class people, like me, this country has had throughout modern times. Possibly the only engine of fair chances, operating at scale.

The Role of Ambition

Aspiration is crucial for our country to prosper. For hope to exist, there needs to be a credible sense that hard work and results are connected; that if people dream big, they can succeed. For any government, being able to foster a sense of optimism about the tomorrow is crucial. Research by the academic institution at the university and others, recently released, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I established during my tenure – community-focused methods to improving education outcomes – led to students in those neighborhoods being up to nearly one-fifth more positive about their prospects than those in similar areas without these initiatives in place. The research confirms: just making an authentic start on pro-social mobility policy can swiftly and beneficially change how people view their destiny.

Squandered Chances

Unaware of these findings, and in the midst of its successor selection process, in autumn 2022, the Conservative government ended the initiatives. Why would anyone in those communities vote for a political group that did that? This specific initiative is a clear case of what might have become a transformative Tory policy platform on levelling up, but that opportunity was totally misused. Methods such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. In contrast, as the Conservatives found out, breaking the promise of social mobility is the most expensive error any political party can make. Voters held accountable the administration for its ineffectiveness but, above all, for its failed pledges on levelling up.

Today’s Political Reality

Now the baton on life chances and equality of opportunity has passed to a Labour government. The previous terminology has been abandoned. The current administration has its own political rhetoric of “removing obstacles to success”. The party that is steadily supplanting the hapless Conservative party, the alternative party, also has its own language – “economic renewal”. The terminology to talk about additional chances in regions like the one I come from, in South Yorkshire. It suggests that an industrial past can be reborn into an industrial future.

For voters, it must seem like a déjà vu experience. Similar challenge, different language. Yet, currently, little improvement.

Lessons for the Future

Whether the government and opposition want to avoid the similar destiny, the respective organizations should learn from the previous government’s errors on levelling up; that equal opportunity talk is one thing, but successful delivery of improved opportunities is significantly more difficult. Britain’s endemically weak life chances remains the key issue for our country, with the next generation unable to get a decent career start, those working hard in full-time jobs with minimal progress after the rent has been paid, and individuals nationwide without any real hope their children will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Leaders can talk about equal chances however much they like. However, which party has the political group that has the comprehensive policy agenda on life chances? None appear to exist. Whoever gets there first, succeeds. Not only for their party, but, more importantly, for a entire nation that has urgently needs equal access so desperately.