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While the struggling Conservative party meets in its conference city for its yearly gathering, it has plenty to consider regarding its future direction. There is uncertainty if a road forward remains open. We are in tough times for a governing group that now has very little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the public.

An Alternate Reality

It could have been so different if real advances had been made on an policy focus that is important for people nationwide: Levelling up. But Boris Johnson’s government did not possess the basic understanding on how to convert his zeitgeisty rhetoric on levelling up into concrete action. For the two years after the general election, it argued over what the phrase truly represented.

It seemed strange to me, because I’d already told the Prime Minister what social mobility meant when we originally talked about it during the contest for party leader. This terminology was language I created and used at the education ministry to talk about social mobility. It was our core mission, and its meaning is straightforward: social mobility is the means by which we attain fair chances – not through reducing chances away from those who possess it, but rather by expanding opportunities to those that don’t.

Fundamental Idea

The other key DfE phrase we used, “ability is distributed uniformly throughout the nation, but opportunity is not”, represented another a deliberate expression, representing the dual components of a equal opportunity plan. First, talent spread evenly but not cultivated evenly through our schools and colleges. Second, opportunities not spread evenly by employers or our economic system. Therefore, schools and companies were essential to achieving better life chances. This represented an priority about the societal structure of our country – fostering individual capabilities and connecting them to prospects.

What Levelling Up Became

How did levelling up evolve into under the previous government? A towns fund overseen from the the relevant ministry. Hanging baskets and rearranged intersections. A government strategy was released a significant period after the Prime Minister took office, which saw existing policy approaches repackaged under the recently branded agenda.

As a result, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went ignored, as well as all the improvement that it could have inspired – in funding, commerce, fiscal strategy, revenue and in local regeneration. And, of course, in education, including a higher education sector that has become a target for elected officials – despite the fact that it remains the most powerful engine of social mobility for youth from modest backgrounds, personally, this country has had over the past 30 years. Maybe the primary source of social mobility, operating at scale.

Why Hope Matters

Hope is vital for our country to thrive. To foster ambition, there needs to be a credible sense that hard work and results are related; that if people aspire, they can achieve. For all administrations, being able to create a outlook of positivity about the years ahead is crucial. Studies by the academic institution at the academic establishment and others, published last month, showed that the education department’s targeted regions I established during my tenure – locally targeted strategies to boosting academic achievement – led to young people in those areas being up to a significant margin more optimistic about their prospects than those in equivalent locations without these initiatives in place. The evidence is clear: just making an sincere effort on pro-social mobility policy can rapidly and effectively change how people feel about their prospects.

Missed Opportunities

Ignoring this evidence, and in the throes of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in that period, the ruling party closed opportunity areas down. Why would anyone in those areas vote for a political group that did that? This specific initiative is one example of what could have been a transformative administration strategy on social mobility, but that opportunity was completely wasted. Strategies such as this can create belief and drive. In contrast, as the Conservatives learned, failing to deliver of equal opportunity is the biggest blunder any political party can make. The electorate penalized the leadership for its failure but, above all, for its broken promises on social mobility.

The Current Landscape

At present the baton on equal opportunity and fair access has been taken up by a Labour government. The old slogan has been cast off. The current administration has its own policy language of “removing obstacles to success”. The organization that is gradually replacing the hapless incumbents, the challenger, also has its own terminology – “economic renewal”. The terminology to talk about fresh prospects in regions like the one I was raised in, in South Yorkshire. It suggests that an former economic strength can revive into an industrial future.

For the public, it must appear as a Groundhog Day-style loop. Identical problem, alternative phrasing. However, so far, no progress.

What Must Change

Whether the government and opposition want to avoid the similar destiny, each group should learn from the Conservatives’ failure on social mobility; that social mobility rhetoric is easy to say, but actual achievement of fairer outcomes is much harder. The UK’s chronically poor life chances remains the primary challenge for our country, with young people unable to get a proper professional launch, those laboring in employment with little to show after the living expenses are met, and individuals nationwide without any real hope their children will be able to do improve in life than they have.

Elected officials can mention fairer opportunities however much they like. But where is the party that has the thorough strategy on life chances? I see none. Whichever party succeeds initially, succeeds. Not only for themselves, but, more importantly, for a entire nation that has desperately requires fair chances so urgently.