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While the existentially challenged Conservative party gathers in its conference city for its yearly gathering, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its future direction. There is uncertainty if a viable path exists at all. These are difficult days for a governing group that now has almost nothing, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to voters.

The Missed Opportunity

It could have been so different if tangible progress had been made on an priority that is important for people throughout the UK: Equal opportunity. But the former leadership did not possess the first clue 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 phrase truly represented.

I was perplexed, because I had clearly defined for the Prime Minister what social mobility signified when we initially discussed about it during the contest for party leader. The phrase was a concept I originated and used at the Department for Education to talk about social mobility. This became our guiding principle, and its definition is unambiguous: social mobility is the means by which we realize fair chances – not by taking prospects away from those who already have it, but rather by providing options to those that don’t.

The Core Concept

The other key education department term we used, “potential is equally shared across our country, yet chances are not”, served as a purposeful phrase, representing the two parts of a social mobility strategy. To begin with, ability distributed uniformly but not cultivated evenly through our schools and colleges. Additionally, opportunities not spread evenly by employers or our market. Thus, schools and companies were crucial to achieving better life chances. This constituted an priority about the community framework of our country – supporting people’s potential and linking them with chances.

What Levelling Up Became

What did levelling up turn into under the previous government? Local investment schemes managed by the the relevant ministry. Street beautification and reconfigured roundabouts and roads. An official policy document was published nearly three years after the leadership change, which saw existing policy approaches repackaged under the fresh social mobility slogan.

As a result, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went undeveloped, as well as all the change that it could have inspired – in capital, enterprise, financial planning, tax and in community development. Moreover, in schooling, including a higher education sector that has become a scapegoat for leaders across parties – even though it remains the strongest driver of upward movement for individuals from less privileged homes, including myself, this country has had in recent decades. Maybe the only engine of equal opportunity, operating at scale.

Why Hope Matters

Aspiration is vital for our country to succeed. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a realistic expectation that dedication and outcome are related; that if people dream big, they can attain. For all administrations, being able to instil a feeling of hope about the future is important. Studies by the Institute for Policy Research at the university and others, newly available, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I introduced as education secretary – place-based approaches to improving education outcomes – led to students in those neighborhoods being up to a significant margin more positive about their life ahead than those in equivalent locations without these initiatives in place. The research confirms: just making an sincere effort on equal chance initiatives can swiftly and beneficially change how people feel about their prospects.

Squandered Chances

Unaware of these findings, and in the throes of its new leader election, in September 2022, the Conservative government terminated the programmes. Why should any person in those communities vote for a political group that took that action? This specific initiative is a clear case of what could have been a revolutionary administration strategy on social mobility, but that opportunity was totally misused. Approaches such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. Conversely, as the Conservatives discovered, failing to deliver of fair chances is the biggest blunder any political party can make. The electorate penalized the administration for its failure but, primarily, for its failed pledges on social mobility.

Today’s Political Reality

Now the responsibility on life chances and equal chances has passed to a opposition party. The previous terminology has been abandoned. Labour has its own public messaging of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The party that is increasingly displacing the hapless Conservative party, the alternative party, also has its own language – “economic renewal”. The terminology to talk about new opportunities in communities like the one I grew up in, in South Yorkshire. It promises that an industrial past can revive into an modern manufacturing sector.

For the public, it must appear as a déjà vu experience. Identical problem, new terminology. However, so far, no progress.

What Must Change

Should the current and alternative parties want to avoid the similar destiny, both these parties should learn from the Conservatives’ failure on social mobility; that fair chance language is easy to say, but actual achievement of more equal results is significantly more difficult. Britain’s persistently low social mobility remains the primary challenge for our country, with youth unable to get a good job beginning, those laboring in full-time jobs with little to show after the rent has been paid, and individuals nationwide without any genuine belief their offspring will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Elected officials can talk about fairer opportunities as much as they want. However, which party has the political group that has the complete plan on social mobility? I see none. Whoever gets there first, succeeds. Not only for their party, but, crucially, for a entire nation that has urgently needs fair chances so badly.