As the original author championed social mobility as the key to Tory electoral victory – but the former Prime Minister failed to deliver. See the current state.

As the struggling Conservative party gathers in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has plenty to consider regarding its next steps. There is uncertainty if a road forward exists at all. We are in tough times for a political party that now has almost nothing, if anything, new or unique to say to voters.

An Alternate Reality

The situation might have been so different if real advances had been made on an policy focus that matters to people nationwide: Social mobility. Yet the previous administration did not possess the basic understanding on how to transform his zeitgeisty rhetoric on social mobility into actual implementation. Over twenty-four months after the 2019 election, it argued over what the concept even meant.

It seemed strange to me, because I had previously explained to the Prime Minister what levelling up signified 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 life chances. It served as our departmental mantra, and its purpose is straightforward: levelling up is the method by which we realize fair chances – not by taking chances away from those who possess it, but rather by extending chances to those that are without.

Fundamental Idea

The other key DfE phrase we used, “potential is equally shared throughout the nation, yet chances are not”, again was a purposeful phrase, reflecting the two halves of a equal opportunity plan. First, talent spread evenly but not nurtured uniformly through our schools and colleges. Second, chances not distributed fairly by employers or our economy. As a result, education and business were essential to achieving better life chances. This represented an mission about the societal structure of our country – supporting human talent and connecting them to chances.

The Actual Outcome

What did levelling up become under Johnson’s Conservatives? Local investment schemes administered out of the DLUHC. Decorative floral displays and rearranged intersections. A white paper was released nearly three years after the Prime Minister took office, which saw current strategies relabelled under the fresh social mobility slogan.

Therefore, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went unpursued, as well as all the reform that it may have generated – in capital, business, economic policy, tax and in place-making. Additionally, in learning, including a higher education sector that has become a scapegoat for politicians of all stripes – even though it remains the primary vehicle of life improvement for individuals from less privileged homes, like me, this country has had in recent decades. Maybe the only engine of social mobility, operating at scale.

The Importance of Aspiration

Ambition is crucial for our country to succeed. For hope to exist, there needs to be a credible sense that effort and reward are connected; that if people dream big, they can attain. For all administrations, being able to instil a feeling of hope about the tomorrow is crucial. Studies by the research body at Bath University and others, newly available, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I established during my tenure – community-focused methods to boosting academic achievement – led to students in those communities being up to 18 percentage points more positive about their prospects than those in equivalent locations without these programmes in place. The evidence is clear: just making an sincere effort on pro-social mobility policy can quickly and positively change how people perceive their prospects.

Lost Potential

Unaware of these findings, and in the midst of its successor selection process, in September 2022, the ruling party closed opportunity areas down. What reason would someone in those communities vote for a party that made that decision? The targeted programme is one example of what had the potential to be a game-changing Conservative government agenda on social mobility, but that chance was completely wasted. Methods such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. In contrast, as the ruling party found out, failing to deliver of social mobility is the costliest mistake any leadership can make. The electorate held accountable the administration for its incompetence but, perhaps most of all, for its broken promises on social mobility.

The Current Landscape

At present the mandate on life chances and equal chances has been transferred to a new administration. The previous terminology has been abandoned. Labour has its own policy language of “removing obstacles to success”. The organization that is steadily supplanting the failing Conservative party, Reform UK, also has its own message – “industrial revival”. It’s a phrase to talk about additional chances in areas like the one I come from, in my hometown. It promises that an former economic strength can reincarnate into an industrial future.

For the public, it must feel like a déjà vu experience. Similar challenge, new terminology. But – as yet – no results.

Lessons for the Future

Whether the government and opposition want to avoid the same fate, the respective organizations should take lessons from the Tories’ mistakes on social mobility; that fair chance language is easy to say, but successful delivery of improved opportunities is far more challenging. The UK’s chronically poor equal opportunity remains the central problem for our country, with young people unable to get a good job beginning, those putting in effort in full-time jobs with little to show after the rent has been paid, and people across the country without any real hope their next generation will be able to do improve in life than they have.

Leaders can discuss equal chances however much they like. Yet where is the party that has the thorough strategy on social mobility? I observe no such party. Whichever party succeeds initially, prevails. Not only for their organization, but, crucially, for a complete society that has urgently needs fair chances so desperately.