🔗 Share this article

As the beleaguered Conservative party meets in its conference city for its yearly gathering, it has much to ponder regarding its next steps. It’s not even clear if a clear direction remains open. We are in challenging circumstances for a governing group that now has very little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to voters.

An Alternate Reality

The situation might have been markedly improved if tangible progress had been made on an policy focus that resonates with people throughout the UK: Equal opportunity. But Boris Johnson’s government did not possess the first clue on how to turn the popular slogan on levelling up into concrete action. For the two years after the general election, it argued over what the term even meant.

I was perplexed, because I had clearly defined for Johnson what social mobility signified when we initially discussed about it during the contest for party leader. The phrase was language I created and used at the Department for Education to talk about equal opportunity. It was our departmental mantra, and its purpose is clear: social mobility is the method by which we realize fair chances – not by taking opportunity away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by providing opportunities to those that don’t.

Essential Principle

The other key ministry expression we used, “talent is spread evenly across our country, yet chances are not”, represented another a purposeful phrase, representing the dual components of a fairness agenda. To begin with, potential shared equally but not cultivated evenly through our learning institutions. Additionally, opportunities not spread evenly by the private sector or our economy. Thus, learning and employment were essential to achieving stronger social mobility. This constituted an priority about the societal structure of our country – supporting people’s potential and connecting them to prospects.

The Reality of Implementation

What did levelling up become under Johnson’s Conservatives? Regional development money managed by the DLUHC. Hanging baskets and reconfigured roundabouts and roads. A government strategy was released almost thirty-six months after the leadership change, which saw existing policy approaches repackaged under the new levelling up banner.

Therefore, a broader social mobility agenda went undeveloped, as well as all the change that it may have generated – in investment, enterprise, fiscal strategy, taxation and in community development. Moreover, in learning, including a higher education sector that has become a scapegoat for politicians of all stripes – despite the fact that it remains the most powerful engine of social mobility for young working-class people, like me, this country has had over the past 30 years. Maybe the primary source of equal opportunity, functioning widely.

Why Hope Matters

Aspiration is vital for our country to thrive. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a credible sense that effort and reward are linked; that if people dream big, they can achieve. For political leadership, being able to foster a sense of optimism about the years ahead is crucial. Studies by the research body at Bath University and others, published last month, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I launched while in office – community-focused methods to boosting academic achievement – led to students in those areas being up to a significant margin more hopeful about their life ahead than those in comparable communities without these schemes in place. The evidence is clear: just making an sincere effort on fair opportunity strategies can rapidly and effectively change how people feel about their future.

Missed Opportunities

Ignoring this evidence, and in the middle of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in September 2022, the ruling party ended the initiatives. What reason would someone in those regions vote for a organization that took that action? This specific initiative is a clear case of what could have been a transformative Conservative government agenda on social mobility, but that chance was hopelessly squandered. Approaches such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. On the other hand, as the Conservatives learned, failing to deliver of fair chances is the biggest blunder any leadership can make. Voters penalized the leadership for its incompetence but, perhaps most of all, for its failed pledges on social mobility.

The Current Landscape

At present the mandate on life chances and equality of opportunity has passed to a opposition party. The levelling up rhetoric has been abandoned. The current administration has its own political rhetoric of “breaking down the barriers to opportunity”. The organization that is gradually replacing the failing incumbents, the challenger, also has its own message – “industrial revival”. This expression to talk about fresh prospects in regions like the one I grew up in, in South Yorkshire. It promises that an former economic strength can revive into an revitalized economy.

To the electorate, 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 similar destiny, both these parties should understand the previous government’s errors on social mobility; that equal opportunity talk is simple terminology, but successful delivery of more equal results is significantly more difficult. Britain’s chronically poor equal opportunity remains the key issue for our country, with youth unable to get a decent career start, those putting in effort in occupations with few results after the living expenses are met, and individuals nationwide without any genuine belief their offspring will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Politicians can talk about improved access repeatedly. But where is the political group that has the comprehensive policy agenda on equal opportunity? None appear to exist. The first to achieve this, succeeds. Not only for their organization, but, crucially, for a whole country that has never needed equality of opportunity so badly.