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As the existentially challenged Tories convenes in Manchester for its yearly gathering, it has plenty to consider regarding its future direction. There is uncertainty if a clear direction remains open. These are difficult days for a governing group that now has almost nothing, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the electorate.

The Missed Opportunity

Things could have turned out so different if concrete steps had been made on an priority that is important for people across the country: Equal opportunity. Yet the previous administration did not possess the basic understanding on how to convert the popular slogan on levelling up into actual implementation. Over twenty-four months after the general election, it argued over what the phrase actually signified.

It seemed strange to me, because I had previously explained to Johnson what social mobility signified when we initially discussed about it during the contest for party leader. The expression was a concept I originated and used at the Department for Education to talk about equal opportunity. It was our departmental mantra, and its meaning is unambiguous: levelling up is the method by which we realize equal access – not through reducing opportunity away from those who possess it, but rather by extending options to those that are without.

The Core Concept

An additional vital DfE phrase we used, “ability is distributed uniformly across our country, but opportunity is not”, served as a deliberate expression, embodying the two halves of a social mobility strategy. First, talent spread evenly but not cultivated evenly through our education system. Additionally, chances not distributed fairly by employers or our market. Thus, education and business were key to achieving stronger social mobility. This constituted an mission about the societal structure of our country – supporting people’s potential and connecting them to opportunities.

What Levelling Up Became

What did levelling up turn into under the previous government? Regional development money overseen from the the relevant ministry. Hanging baskets and reconfigured roundabouts and roads. A government strategy was published almost thirty-six months after Johnson became leader, which saw ongoing initiatives repackaged under the new levelling up banner.

As a result, a wider fairness strategy went undeveloped, as well as all the improvement that it may have generated – in capital, business, financial planning, tax and in community development. Additionally, in education, including a tertiary education that has become a target for leaders across parties – despite the fact that it remains the primary vehicle of upward movement for individuals from less privileged homes, personally, this country has had throughout modern times. Maybe the only engine of social mobility, operating at scale.

Why Hope Matters

Hope is vital for our country to prosper. For hope to exist, there needs to be a believable feeling that dedication and outcome are related; that if people aspire, they can succeed. For all administrations, being able to instil a outlook of positivity about the years ahead is critical. Studies by the academic institution at the university and others, recently released, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I launched while in office – community-focused methods to improving education outcomes – led to students in those communities being up to nearly one-fifth more positive about their future than those in similar areas without these programmes in place. The research confirms: just making an sincere effort on equal chance initiatives can swiftly and beneficially change how people view their future.

Lost Potential

Ignoring this evidence, and in the throes of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in September 2022, the Tory administration terminated the programmes. What reason would someone in those regions vote for a political group that made that decision? This specific initiative is one example of what had the potential to be a revolutionary Conservative government agenda on levelling up, but that chance was hopelessly squandered. Strategies such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. In contrast, as the Tories found out, reneging on commitments of equal opportunity is the costliest mistake any government can make. Voters punished the government for its incompetence but, primarily, for its failed pledges on social mobility.

Present Circumstances

Now the responsibility on social mobility and equality of opportunity has passed to a opposition party. The levelling up rhetoric has been abandoned. The new government has its own public messaging of “breaking down the barriers to opportunity”. The organization that is steadily supplanting the hapless Tories, the alternative party, also has its own language – “economic renewal”. The terminology to talk about new opportunities in areas like the one I grew up in, in South Yorkshire. It promises that an historical manufacturing base can reincarnate into an modern manufacturing sector.

For voters, it must appear as a Groundhog Day-style loop. Identical problem, new terminology. However, so far, no progress.

The Way Forward

If Labour and Reform UK want to prevent the same fate, both these parties should take lessons from the Tories’ mistakes on levelling up; that fair chance language is one thing, but effective implementation of more equal results is much harder. The UK’s endemically weak equal opportunity remains the key issue for our country, with youth unable to get a proper professional launch, those working hard in occupations with few results after the living expenses are met, and individuals nationwide without any genuine belief their children will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Leaders can discuss equal chances repeatedly. But where is the organization that has the comprehensive policy agenda on equal opportunity? I observe no such party. The first to achieve this, prevails. Not only for their party, but, crucially, for a complete society that has desperately requires fair chances so badly.