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As the existentially challenged Tories meets in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its path forward. It’s not even clear if a road forward is available. These are difficult days for a governing group that now has little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the public.

The Missed Opportunity

Things could have turned out markedly improved if concrete steps had been made on an policy focus that matters to people across the country: Social mobility. But the former leadership hadn’t got the slightest idea on how to turn the popular slogan on social mobility into policy reality. During the initial period after the 2019 election, it argued over what the concept even meant.

It seemed strange to me, because I had clearly defined for Johnson what social mobility entailed when we originally talked about it during the contest for party leader. This terminology was language I created and used at the Department for Education to talk about equal opportunity. This became our guiding principle, and its definition is clear: social mobility is the means by which we realize equality of opportunity – without removing opportunity away from those who possess it, but rather by extending opportunities to those that are without.

Fundamental Idea

The other key education department term we used, “ability is distributed uniformly across our country, however access isn’t”, served as a purposeful phrase, reflecting the dual components of a fairness agenda. To begin with, ability distributed uniformly but not developed consistently through our education system. Furthermore, opportunities not spread evenly by the private sector or our market. Therefore, schools and companies were crucial to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This represented an agenda about the societal structure of our country – fostering human talent and providing access to chances.

The Reality of Implementation

What did the social mobility agenda become under the previous government? Regional development money administered out of the the relevant ministry. Decorative floral displays and rearranged intersections. A white paper was launched a significant period after the leadership change, which saw ongoing initiatives repackaged under the fresh social mobility slogan.

As a result, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went unpursued, as well as all the change that it might have driven – in capital, commerce, economic policy, taxation and in community development. Additionally, in learning, including a higher education sector that has become a target for politicians of all stripes – 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. Possibly the primary source of equal opportunity, working extensively.

The Role of Ambition

Hope is crucial for our country to thrive. For hope to exist, there needs to be a believable feeling that dedication and outcome are related; that if people aim high, they can attain. For all administrations, being able to foster a sense of optimism about the future is important. Research by the academic institution at the university and others, published last month, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I established during my tenure – place-based approaches to enhancing learning results – led to youth in those neighborhoods being up to a significant margin more optimistic about their prospects than those in similar areas without these programmes in place. The evidence is clear: just making an authentic start on pro-social mobility policy can quickly and positively change how people feel about their prospects.

Squandered Chances

Unaware of these findings, and in the midst of its new leader election, in autumn 2022, the Conservative government closed opportunity areas down. What reason would someone in those communities vote for a political group that made that decision? This specific initiative is a single instance of what might have become a revolutionary Conservative government agenda on levelling up, but that possibility was completely wasted. Strategies such as this can create belief and drive. On the other hand, as the ruling party found out, failing to deliver of fair chances is the biggest blunder any leadership can make. The public penalized the government for its failure but, above all, for its unfulfilled commitments on equal opportunity.

Today’s Political Reality

At present the baton on equal opportunity and equal chances has passed to a opposition party. The previous terminology has been discarded. The new government has its own political rhetoric of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The organization that is increasingly displacing the struggling Tories, the alternative party, also has its own terminology – “reindustrialisation”. It’s a phrase to talk about new opportunities in areas like the one I was raised in, in my hometown. It suggests that an industrial past can be reborn into an industrial future.

To the electorate, it must feel like a Groundhog Day-style loop. Similar challenge, new terminology. Yet, currently, little improvement.

What Must Change

If Labour and Reform UK want to prevent the same fate, each group should learn from the previous government’s errors on social mobility; that social mobility rhetoric is easy to say, but effective implementation of improved opportunities is much harder. The UK’s endemically weak life chances remains the primary challenge for our country, with young people unable to get a proper professional launch, those putting in effort in employment with minimal progress after the living expenses are met, and people across the country without any actual expectation their offspring will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Elected officials can discuss fairer opportunities however much they like. However, which party has the political group that has the thorough strategy on social mobility? I see none. The first to achieve this, succeeds. Not only for their party, but, crucially, for a entire nation that has urgently needs equality of opportunity so desperately.