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While the existentially challenged Tories convenes in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has much to ponder regarding its next steps. There is uncertainty if a road forward remains open. These are challenging circumstances for a political party that now has little, if anything, new or unique to say to the electorate.

An Alternate Reality

The situation might have been so different if tangible progress had been made on an priority that is important for people across the country: Social mobility. However the previous administration lacked the slightest idea on how to convert the trendy talk on levelling up into policy reality. For the two years after the 2019 election, it argued over what the term actually signified.

I was perplexed, because I had previously explained to Johnson what social mobility entailed when we initially discussed about it during his leadership campaign. The phrase was language I created and used at the DfE to talk about life chances. It served as our departmental mantra, and its meaning is straightforward: social mobility is the approach by which we achieve equality of opportunity – not by taking chances away from those who already have it, but rather by expanding options to those that don’t.

The Core Concept

Another crucial DfE phrase we used, “potential is equally shared throughout the nation, however access isn’t”, represented another a deliberate expression, embodying the dual components of a fairness agenda. Initially, ability distributed uniformly but not nurtured uniformly through our education system. Furthermore, chances not distributed fairly by employers or our economy. As a result, schools and companies were crucial to achieving stronger social mobility. This was an priority about the social fabric of our country – fostering individual capabilities and linking them with opportunities.

The Reality of Implementation

What did levelling up turn into under the Tory administration? Local investment schemes managed by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Hanging baskets and reconfigured roundabouts and roads. An official policy document was launched nearly three years after the leadership change, which saw current strategies rebadged under the recently branded agenda.

Therefore, a broader social mobility agenda went ignored, as well as all the reform that it could have inspired – in investment, enterprise, economic policy, taxation and in community development. Additionally, in education, including a higher education sector that has become a punchbag for politicians of all stripes – despite the fact that it remains the strongest driver of upward movement for individuals from less privileged homes, including myself, this country has had throughout modern times. Maybe the sole mechanism of social mobility, working extensively.

The Importance of Aspiration

Ambition is vital for our country to succeed. For hope to exist, there needs to be a believable feeling that dedication and outcome are related; that if people aim high, they can succeed. For all administrations, being able to create a outlook of positivity about the tomorrow is important. Studies by the Institute for Policy Research at the university and others, recently released, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I launched while in office – locally targeted strategies to boosting academic achievement – led to students in those areas being up to 18 percentage points more hopeful about their life ahead than those in similar areas without these initiatives in place. The data shows: just making an genuine beginning on pro-social mobility policy can swiftly and beneficially change how people view their destiny.

Squandered Chances

Ignoring this evidence, and in the midst of its new leader election, in that period, the Tory administration ended the initiatives. Why would anyone in those areas vote for a party that took that action? The targeted programme is a clear case of what might have become a game-changing administration strategy on levelling up, but that chance was completely wasted. Approaches such as this can generate optimism and ambition. In contrast, as the Tories learned, reneging on commitments of fair chances is the most expensive error any government can make. The public held accountable the leadership for its incompetence but, perhaps most of all, for its broken promises on levelling up.

The Current Landscape

Currently the responsibility on equal opportunity and equality of opportunity has been taken up by a opposition party. The levelling up rhetoric has been cast off. Labour has its own political rhetoric of “removing obstacles to success”. The political group that is steadily supplanting the failing incumbents, the challenger, also has its own message – “reindustrialisation”. This expression to talk about additional chances in areas like the one I was raised in, in the region. It suggests that an former economic strength can reincarnate into an industrial future.

To the electorate, it must seem like a Groundhog Day-style loop. Same issue, new terminology. But – as yet – no results.

Lessons for the Future

Whether the government and opposition want to prevent the same fate, each group should learn from the previous government’s errors on social mobility; that fair chance language is one thing, but actual achievement of fairer outcomes is much harder. The UK’s endemically weak social mobility remains the key issue for our country, with young people unable to get a proper professional launch, those putting in effort in full-time jobs with minimal progress after the living expenses are met, and individuals nationwide without any real hope their offspring will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Leaders can discuss equal chances as much as they want. But where is the organization that has the comprehensive policy agenda on social mobility? I observe no such party. Whoever gets there first, wins. Not just for themselves, but, more importantly, for a whole country that has desperately requires equal access so desperately.