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While the beleaguered Conservative party meets in Manchester for its yearly gathering, it has plenty to consider regarding its path forward. There is uncertainty if a clear direction exists at all. These are difficult days for a political party that now has very little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the electorate.

The Missed Opportunity

It could have been so different if tangible progress had been made on an priority that resonates with people across the country: Levelling up. But Boris Johnson’s government lacked the basic understanding on how to transform the popular slogan on social mobility into policy reality. Over twenty-four months after the general election, it argued over what the phrase even meant.

It seemed strange to me, because I had clearly defined for the Prime Minister what levelling up meant when we initially discussed about it during his leadership campaign. The phrase was language I created and used at the Department for Education to talk about equal opportunity. It served as our guiding principle, and its purpose is unambiguous: levelling up is the means by which we achieve equality of opportunity – without removing opportunity away from those who already have it, but rather by extending opportunities to those that lack them.

The Core Concept

Another crucial DfE phrase we used, “potential is equally shared around the UK, yet chances are not”, again was a deliberate expression, representing the two parts of a equal opportunity plan. First, potential shared equally but not nurtured uniformly through our education system. Furthermore, chances not distributed fairly by the private sector or our market. Thus, education and business were key to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This represented an priority about the community framework of our country – supporting individual capabilities and connecting them to chances.

The Reality of Implementation

What did the social mobility agenda become under the Tory administration? Local investment schemes overseen from the DLUHC. Street beautification and redeveloped traffic systems. An official policy document was published a significant period after the leadership change, which saw existing policy approaches repackaged under the fresh social mobility slogan.

As a result, a wider fairness strategy went ignored, as well as all the change that it could have inspired – in capital, business, economic policy, taxation and in community development. Additionally, in learning, including a higher education sector that has become a punchbag for politicians of all stripes – although it remains the strongest driver of life improvement for youth from modest backgrounds, like me, this country has had over the past 30 years. Perhaps the only engine of fair chances, working extensively.

The Importance of Aspiration

Hope is crucial for our country to thrive. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a credible sense that dedication and outcome are linked; that if people dream big, they can attain. For political leadership, being able to foster a outlook of positivity about the years ahead is critical. Research by the research body at Bath University and others, newly available, showed that the education department’s targeted regions I launched while in office – community-focused methods to improving education outcomes – led to students in those neighborhoods being up to nearly one-fifth more positive about their life ahead than those in equivalent locations without these schemes in place. The evidence is clear: just making an authentic start on pro-social mobility policy can swiftly and beneficially change how people feel about their future.

Missed Opportunities

Oblivious to this, and in the throes of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in that period, the ruling party terminated the programmes. Why would anyone in those areas vote for a political group that took that action? The targeted programme is a clear case of what could have been a game-changing Tory policy platform on social mobility, but that possibility was totally misused. Methods such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. In contrast, as the Tories found out, breaking the promise of equal opportunity is the costliest mistake any government can make. Voters punished the government for its incompetence but, above all, for its failed pledges on equal opportunity.

Present Circumstances

Currently the responsibility on life chances and equality of opportunity has been taken up by a Labour government. The old slogan has been cast off. The current administration has its own policy language of “breaking down the barriers to opportunity”. The political group that is steadily supplanting the failing incumbents, the challenger, also has its own terminology – “economic renewal”. The terminology to talk about fresh prospects in regions like the one I come from, in my hometown. It claims that an industrial past can be reborn into an modern manufacturing sector.

For voters, it must appear as a Groundhog Day-style loop. Same issue, alternative phrasing. But – as yet – no results.

Lessons for the Future

Whether the government and opposition want to prevent the identical outcome, the respective organizations should understand the Conservatives’ failure on levelling up; that equal opportunity talk is simple terminology, but actual achievement of more equal results is significantly more difficult. Our nation’s chronically poor equal opportunity 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 minimal progress after the living expenses are met, and individuals nationwide without any real hope their offspring will be able to do improve in life than they have.

Elected officials can mention fairer opportunities repeatedly. However, which party has the political group that has the thorough strategy on equal opportunity? I observe no such party. Whichever party succeeds initially, wins. Not just for their party, but, more importantly, for a entire nation that has urgently needs equal access so urgently.