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As the existentially challenged Tories meets in its conference city for its annual party conference, it has much to ponder regarding its path forward. Doubt remains if a viable path exists at all. We are in difficult days 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 real advances had been made on an priority that is important for people nationwide: Levelling up. However the former leadership did not possess the basic understanding on how to transform the popular slogan on levelling up into actual implementation. During the initial period after the general election, it debated what the phrase actually signified.

It seemed strange to me, because I had clearly defined for the Prime Minister what levelling up meant when we first spoke about it during the contest for party leader. The expression was a concept I originated and used at the Department for Education to talk about life chances. It was our departmental mantra, and its purpose is clear: levelling up is the approach by which we achieve equal access – not through reducing chances away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by providing opportunities to those that lack them.

The Core Concept

Another crucial education department term we used, “ability is distributed uniformly across our country, however access isn’t”, again was a deliberate expression, reflecting the two parts of a equal opportunity plan. To begin with, ability distributed uniformly but not developed consistently through our schools and colleges. Additionally, access not provided uniformly by employers or our market. Therefore, learning and employment were essential to achieving better life chances. This represented an priority about the community framework of our country – supporting human talent and linking them with prospects.

The Actual Outcome

What did the social mobility agenda evolve into under the previous government? A towns fund managed by the the relevant ministry. Decorative floral displays and redeveloped traffic systems. A government strategy was published nearly three years after the Prime Minister took office, which saw ongoing initiatives rebadged under the new levelling up banner.

Consequently, a broader social mobility agenda went undeveloped, as well as all the change that it may have generated – in funding, enterprise, economic policy, taxation and in local regeneration. Moreover, in learning, including a university system that has become a scapegoat for elected officials – although it remains the most powerful engine of life improvement for young working-class people, personally, this country has had throughout modern times. Possibly the primary source of social mobility, functioning widely.

The Role of Ambition

Aspiration is vital for our country to prosper. To foster ambition, there needs to be a realistic expectation that hard work and results are linked; that if people dream big, they can achieve. For political leadership, being able to foster a sense of optimism about the future is important. Research by the research body at the university and others, newly available, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I launched while in office – locally targeted strategies to improving education outcomes – led to students in those neighborhoods being up to nearly one-fifth more optimistic about their future than those in comparable communities without these schemes in place. The research confirms: just making an sincere effort on equal chance initiatives can rapidly and effectively change how people feel about their destiny.

Squandered Chances

Oblivious to this, and in the throes of its new leader election, in that period, the Tory administration closed opportunity areas down. Why should any person in those regions vote for a organization that did that? This specific initiative is one example of what could have been a revolutionary Tory policy platform on levelling up, but that chance was totally misused. Approaches such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. In contrast, as the Tories discovered, failing to deliver of equal opportunity is the most expensive error any government can make. Voters held accountable the administration for its ineffectiveness but, above all, for its unfulfilled commitments on equal opportunity.

Present Circumstances

At present the responsibility on life chances and equal chances has been taken up by a Labour government. The old slogan has been discarded. Labour has its own public messaging of “removing obstacles to success”. The political group that is steadily supplanting the hapless Tories, the alternative party, also has its own language – “reindustrialisation”. It’s a phrase to talk about new opportunities in areas like the one I was raised in, in my hometown. It claims that an industrial past can be reborn into an industrial future.

For the public, it must seem like a déjà vu experience. Same issue, new terminology. However, so far, no progress.

The Way Forward

Should the current and alternative parties want to prevent the similar destiny, both these parties should learn from the Tories’ mistakes on social mobility; that equal opportunity talk is easy to say, but effective implementation of improved opportunities is significantly more difficult. The UK’s persistently low social mobility 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 individuals nationwide without any genuine belief their next generation will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Politicians can talk about equal chances as much as they want. However, which party has the political group that has the complete plan on life chances? None appear to exist. The first to achieve this, succeeds. Not only for their party, but, more importantly, for a complete society that has urgently needs fair chances so badly.