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As the existentially challenged Conservative party meets in its conference city for its annual party conference, it has much to ponder regarding its path forward. Doubt remains if a road forward is available. We are in challenging circumstances for a political party that now has very little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the electorate.

What Could Have Been

Things could have turned out markedly improved if concrete steps had been made on an policy focus that resonates with people nationwide: Social mobility. However Boris Johnson’s government hadn’t got the first clue on how to turn his zeitgeisty rhetoric on social mobility into concrete action. During the initial period after the general election, it argued over what the phrase truly represented.

It seemed strange to me, because I had clearly defined for Johnson what levelling up signified when we originally talked about it during the contest for party leader. This terminology was language I created and used at the DfE to talk about equal opportunity. It was our core mission, and its definition is clear: social mobility is the method by which we achieve equal access – not through reducing chances away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by extending options to those that are without.

Fundamental Idea

Another crucial DfE phrase we used, “talent is spread evenly throughout the nation, however access isn’t”, served as a deliberate expression, embodying the two halves of a equal opportunity plan. Initially, talent spread evenly but not cultivated evenly through our education system. Additionally, chances not distributed fairly by employers or our economy. As a result, education and business were essential to achieving better life chances. This was an mission about the social fabric of our country – supporting human talent and connecting them to opportunities.

What Levelling Up Became

How did the social mobility agenda turn into under the previous government? Local investment schemes overseen from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Decorative floral displays and rearranged intersections. A government strategy was released almost thirty-six months after the leadership change, which saw ongoing initiatives rebadged under the recently branded agenda.

Consequently, a wider fairness strategy went undeveloped, as well as all the change that it may have generated – in investment, enterprise, fiscal strategy, tax and in community development. Moreover, in schooling, including a tertiary education that has become a target for politicians of all stripes – although it remains the most powerful engine of life improvement for young working-class people, personally, this country has had in recent decades. Possibly the primary source of fair chances, functioning widely.

Why Hope Matters

Hope is crucial for our country to thrive. To foster ambition, there needs to be a realistic expectation that effort and reward are related; that if people aspire, they can succeed. For any government, being able to instil a sense of optimism about the future is critical. Studies by the academic institution at the university and others, published last month, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I introduced as education secretary – place-based approaches to boosting academic achievement – led to young people in those neighborhoods being up to a significant margin more hopeful about their prospects than those in similar areas without these programmes in place. The data shows: just making an genuine beginning on equal chance initiatives can quickly and positively change how people view their destiny.

Missed Opportunities

Oblivious to this, and in the midst of its new leader election, in that period, the Conservative government closed opportunity areas down. Why would anyone in those communities vote for a organization that took that action? This specific initiative is one example of what had the potential to be a transformative Conservative government agenda on social mobility, but that opportunity was hopelessly squandered. Approaches such as this can generate optimism and ambition. In contrast, as the ruling party found out, reneging on commitments of social mobility is the costliest mistake any leadership can make. Voters punished the administration for its ineffectiveness but, primarily, for its broken promises on social mobility.

Today’s Political Reality

At present the responsibility on equal opportunity and fair access has been transferred to a opposition party. The previous terminology has been discarded. The current administration has its own policy language of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The organization that is steadily supplanting the struggling Conservative party, Reform UK, also has its own message – “economic renewal”. It’s a phrase to talk about additional chances in communities like the one I was raised in, in South Yorkshire. It claims that an historical manufacturing base can revive into an modern manufacturing sector.

For voters, it must appear as a déjà vu experience. Similar challenge, different language. However, so far, no progress.

What Must Change

Should the current and alternative parties want to avoid the same fate, both these parties should learn from the Tories’ mistakes on social mobility; that equal opportunity talk is easy to say, but actual achievement of more equal results is far more challenging. The UK’s chronically poor life chances remains the primary challenge for our country, with youth unable to get a good job beginning, those working hard in full-time jobs with little to show after the living expenses are met, and people across the country without any real hope their children will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Politicians can mention fairer opportunities however much they like. Yet where is the party that has the thorough strategy on life chances? I see none. Whoever gets there first, succeeds. Not only for their party, but, crucially, for a entire nation that has urgently needs equality of opportunity so badly.