I advocated for levelling up as the critical to Tory electoral victory – but Boris Johnson failed to deliver. See the current state.

As the existentially challenged Tories meets in Manchester for its yearly gathering, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its path forward. Doubt remains if a viable path remains open. These are difficult days for a political party that now has very little, if anything, new or unique to say to the electorate.

The Missed Opportunity

Things could have turned out markedly improved if concrete steps had been made on an policy focus that is important for people across the country: Levelling up. However the previous administration lacked the first clue on how to convert the trendy talk on social mobility into concrete action. Over twenty-four months after the 2019 election, it discussed what the concept even meant.

I found it bizarre, because I had clearly defined for the Prime Minister what social mobility entailed when we initially discussed about it during the contest for party leader. The expression was a concept I originated and used at the DfE to talk about social mobility. It served as our core mission, and its definition is straightforward: social mobility is the means by which we attain equal access – not through reducing opportunity away from those who possess it, but rather by providing chances to those that don’t.

The Core Concept

An additional vital ministry expression we used, “potential is equally shared across our country, yet chances are not”, represented another a intentional wording, embodying the two halves of a equal opportunity plan. Initially, ability distributed uniformly but not cultivated evenly through our schools and colleges. Second, access not provided uniformly by businesses or our market. As a result, education and business were key to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This was an priority about the community framework of our country – fostering human talent and linking them with prospects.

What Levelling Up Became

What did the social mobility agenda evolve into under the Tory administration? Regional development money administered out of the the relevant ministry. Decorative floral displays and rearranged intersections. An official policy document was published a significant period after Johnson became leader, which saw existing policy approaches repackaged under the new levelling up banner.

Therefore, a wider fairness strategy went ignored, as well as all the improvement that it may have generated – in investment, enterprise, financial planning, taxation and in community development. Additionally, in learning, including a tertiary education that has become a punchbag for politicians of all stripes – despite the fact that it remains the most powerful engine of social mobility for youth from modest backgrounds, like me, this country has had in recent decades. Possibly the primary source of equal opportunity, working extensively.

The Importance of Aspiration

Ambition is crucial for our country to succeed. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a believable feeling that effort and reward are connected; that if people dream big, they can attain. For political leadership, being able to instil a feeling of hope about the future is important. Analysis by the Institute for Policy Research at Bath University and others, newly available, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I introduced as education secretary – locally targeted strategies to enhancing learning results – led to young people in those areas being up to 18 percentage points more hopeful about their life ahead than those in similar areas without these initiatives in place. The research confirms: just making an sincere effort on pro-social mobility policy can swiftly and beneficially change how people feel about their prospects.

Missed Opportunities

Ignoring this evidence, and in the throes of its successor selection process, in September 2022, the ruling party terminated the programmes. What reason would someone in those areas vote for a political group that did that? The opportunity areas policy is one example of what could have been a revolutionary Conservative government agenda on social mobility, but that chance was hopelessly squandered. Approaches such as this can create belief and drive. On the other hand, as the Tories learned, breaking the promise of fair chances is the costliest mistake any leadership can make. The electorate punished the administration for its failure but, perhaps most of all, for its failed pledges on social mobility.

Today’s Political Reality

Now the responsibility on equal opportunity and equality of opportunity has been transferred to a new administration. The levelling up rhetoric has been cast off. The new government has its own political rhetoric of “removing obstacles to success”. The party that is steadily supplanting the struggling Tories, the challenger, also has its own language – “economic renewal”. The terminology to talk about new opportunities in communities like the one I was raised in, in South Yorkshire. It claims that an industrial past can reincarnate into an industrial future.

To the electorate, it must seem like a Groundhog Day-style loop. Identical problem, new terminology. Yet, currently, little improvement.

The Way Forward

If Labour and Reform UK want to avoid the identical outcome, both these parties should understand the Tories’ mistakes on levelling up; that equal opportunity talk is one thing, but actual achievement of improved opportunities is significantly more difficult. Our nation’s endemically weak life chances remains the central problem for our country, with the next generation unable to get a good job beginning, those putting in effort in employment with little to show after the housing costs are covered, and people across the country without any real hope their next generation will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Leaders can discuss improved access repeatedly. However, which party has the political group that has the thorough strategy on life chances? None appear to exist. Whoever gets there first, wins. Not just for their organization, but, more importantly, for a entire nation that has desperately requires fair chances so badly.