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While the beleaguered Conservative party gathers in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its future direction. It’s not even clear if a clear direction 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 voters.

The Missed Opportunity

It could have been vastly better if concrete steps had been made on an agenda that is important for people nationwide: Levelling up. But the previous administration did not possess the basic understanding on how to turn the trendy talk on levelling up into concrete action. During the initial period after the general election, it discussed what the term truly represented.

I was perplexed, because I had clearly defined for Johnson what levelling up meant when we originally talked about it during his leadership campaign. The expression was a term I developed and used at the DfE to talk about life chances. This became our guiding principle, and its definition is clear: levelling up is the means by which we attain equality of opportunity – not by taking chances away from those who already have it, but rather by providing options to those that lack them.

The Core Concept

Another crucial DfE phrase we used, “talent is spread evenly throughout the nation, yet chances are not”, served as a purposeful phrase, representing the two halves of a equal opportunity plan. First, ability distributed uniformly but not cultivated evenly through our schools and colleges. Additionally, opportunities not spread evenly by employers or our market. As a result, learning and employment were essential to achieving stronger social mobility. This was an agenda about the social fabric of our country – investing in human talent and linking them with chances.

The Actual Outcome

What did levelling up evolve into under the previous government? Regional development money overseen from the the relevant ministry. Decorative floral displays and redeveloped traffic systems. A white paper was published a significant period after Johnson became leader, which saw existing policy approaches rebadged under the fresh social mobility slogan.

As a result, a wider fairness strategy went unpursued, as well as all the reform that it could have inspired – in funding, enterprise, financial planning, revenue and in local regeneration. Moreover, in education, including a university system that has become a scapegoat for politicians of all stripes – although it remains the strongest driver of social mobility for youth from modest backgrounds, like me, this country has had over the past 30 years. Possibly the only engine of equal opportunity, working extensively.

The Role of Ambition

Hope is crucial for our country to succeed. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a believable feeling that effort and reward are related; that if people dream big, they can achieve. For any government, being able to foster a sense of optimism about the future is critical. Research by the academic institution at Bath University and others, published last month, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I launched while in office – place-based approaches to boosting academic achievement – led to students in those neighborhoods being up to nearly one-fifth more optimistic about their prospects than those in similar areas without these initiatives in place. The evidence is clear: just making an genuine beginning on fair opportunity strategies can quickly and positively change how people view their future.

Missed Opportunities

Unaware of these findings, and in the midst of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in that period, the ruling party ended the initiatives. What reason would someone in those regions vote for a party that took that action? The targeted programme is a clear case of what had the potential to be a game-changing Conservative government agenda on social mobility, but that chance was totally misused. Approaches such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. In contrast, as the ruling party discovered, reneging on commitments of equal opportunity is the costliest mistake any leadership can make. The electorate held accountable the leadership for its ineffectiveness but, above all, for its broken promises on social mobility.

Present Circumstances

Now the baton on social mobility and equal chances has been transferred to a new administration. The previous terminology has been abandoned. Labour has its own public messaging of “removing obstacles to success”. The political group that is steadily supplanting the failing Tories, the alternative party, also has its own message – “economic renewal”. This expression to talk about fresh prospects in communities like the one I was raised in, in the region. It promises that an historical manufacturing base can be reborn into an modern manufacturing sector.

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

Lessons for the Future

If Labour and Reform UK want to prevent the same fate, both these parties should understand the previous government’s errors on levelling up; that social mobility rhetoric is simple terminology, but successful delivery of fairer outcomes is much harder. The UK’s chronically poor life chances remains the primary challenge for our country, with the next generation unable to get a proper professional launch, those laboring 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.

Elected officials can mention fairer opportunities as much as they want. Yet where is the political group that has the comprehensive policy agenda on equal opportunity? I observe no such party. The first to achieve this, prevails. Not only for themselves, but, crucially, for a whole country that has never needed equal access so badly.