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As the struggling Conservative party convenes in Manchester for its yearly gathering, it has plenty to consider regarding its path forward. Doubt remains if a clear direction remains open. We are in tough times for a political party that now has little, if anything, new or unique to say to the electorate.

The Missed Opportunity

The situation might have been vastly better if concrete steps had been made on an policy focus that resonates with people throughout the UK: Equal opportunity. But the former leadership did not possess the first clue on how to turn his zeitgeisty rhetoric on social mobility into actual implementation. For the two years after the general election, it discussed what the phrase actually signified.

I found it bizarre, because I had clearly defined for Johnson what levelling up meant when we originally talked about it during his leadership campaign. This terminology was language I created and used at the Department for Education to talk about life chances. It was our guiding principle, and its meaning is straightforward: levelling up is the approach by which we attain equal access – not by taking chances away from those who already have it, but rather by providing options to those that lack them.

The Core Concept

Another crucial education department term we used, “talent is spread evenly across our country, yet chances are not”, again was a deliberate expression, reflecting the two parts of a social mobility strategy. First, potential shared equally but not developed consistently through our education system. Additionally, access not provided uniformly by the private sector or our economy. As a result, education and business were key to achieving better life chances. This constituted an mission about the societal structure of our country – investing in individual capabilities and connecting them to opportunities.

The Actual Outcome

What did levelling up become under Johnson’s Conservatives? Regional development money overseen from the the relevant ministry. Street beautification and reconfigured roundabouts and roads. A white paper was released almost thirty-six months after Johnson became leader, which saw ongoing initiatives relabelled under the recently branded agenda.

As a result, a wider fairness strategy went unpursued, as well as all the reform that it could have inspired – in investment, business, fiscal strategy, revenue and in place-making. And, of course, in schooling, including a higher education sector that has become a punchbag for politicians of all stripes – although it remains the strongest driver of upward movement for individuals from less privileged homes, personally, this country has had over the past 30 years. Perhaps the only engine of equal opportunity, operating at scale.

Why Hope Matters

Ambition is crucial for our country to succeed. To foster ambition, there needs to be a credible sense that hard work and results are connected; that if people aim high, they can attain. For political leadership, being able to foster a outlook of positivity about the tomorrow is critical. Analysis by the academic institution at the academic establishment and others, published last month, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I introduced as education secretary – place-based approaches to enhancing learning results – led to young people in those areas being up to 18 percentage points more positive about their life ahead than those in equivalent locations without these schemes in place. The research confirms: just making an genuine beginning on equal chance initiatives can rapidly and effectively change how people view their prospects.

Missed Opportunities

Unaware of these findings, and in the midst of its new leader election, in that period, the ruling party closed opportunity areas down. Why should any person in those communities vote for a organization that took that action? The targeted programme is a single instance of what could have been a transformative Conservative government agenda on levelling up, but that opportunity was hopelessly squandered. Approaches such as this can create belief and drive. In contrast, as the ruling party discovered, reneging on commitments of fair chances is the most expensive error any leadership can make. The public penalized the leadership for its incompetence but, primarily, for its failed pledges on equal opportunity.

Today’s Political Reality

Currently the baton on social mobility and equality of opportunity has passed to a opposition party. The levelling up rhetoric has been discarded. Labour has its own policy language of “removing obstacles to success”. The political group that is gradually replacing the hapless Conservative party, the alternative party, also has its own terminology – “industrial revival”. The terminology to talk about additional chances in communities like the one I come from, in South Yorkshire. It claims that an industrial past can reincarnate into an revitalized economy.

For the public, it must feel like a repetitive cycle. Similar challenge, different language. Yet, currently, little improvement.

The Way Forward

If Labour and Reform UK want to avoid the same fate, each group should understand the previous government’s errors on levelling up; that fair chance language is one thing, but successful delivery of more equal results is much harder. Our nation’s persistently low social mobility remains the key issue for our country, with youth unable to get a proper professional launch, those laboring in full-time jobs with little to show after the living expenses are met, and people across the country without any real hope their next generation will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Politicians can mention improved access repeatedly. Yet where is the political group that has the thorough strategy on social mobility? I see none. Whoever gets there first, prevails. Not only for themselves, but, significantly, for a entire nation that has desperately requires equality of opportunity so desperately.