While the beleaguered Tories meets in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has a lot to reflect on regarding its next steps. Doubt remains if a viable path is available. We are in tough times for a political party that now has very little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the public.
Things could have turned out markedly improved if real advances had been made on an agenda that is important for people nationwide: Social mobility. But the former leadership hadn’t got the basic understanding on how to transform the popular slogan on levelling up into actual implementation. During the initial period after the 2019 election, it argued over what the concept truly represented.
It seemed strange to me, because I’d already told the Prime Minister what social mobility signified when we originally talked about it during the contest for party leader. This terminology was a concept I originated and used at the DfE to talk about equal opportunity. This became our guiding principle, and its purpose is straightforward: social mobility is the method by which we realize equality of opportunity – not by taking chances away from those who already have it, but rather by providing opportunities to those that are without.
Another crucial ministry expression we used, “potential is equally shared throughout the nation, however access isn’t”, served as a intentional wording, reflecting the dual components of a social mobility strategy. First, potential shared equally but not developed consistently through our education system. Additionally, access not provided uniformly by employers or our economic system. Therefore, learning and employment were essential to achieving better life chances. This was an agenda about the community framework of our country – investing in human talent and connecting them to prospects.
What did levelling up evolve into under the Tory administration? Regional development money overseen from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Decorative floral displays and rearranged intersections. A government strategy was published nearly three years after the Prime Minister took office, which saw current strategies rebadged under the fresh social mobility slogan.
Therefore, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went ignored, as well as all the improvement that it may have generated – in capital, business, fiscal strategy, tax and in place-making. Additionally, in education, including a university system that has become a scapegoat for elected officials – although it remains the strongest driver of life improvement for young working-class people, including myself, this country has had in recent decades. Possibly the primary source of fair chances, working extensively.
Ambition is crucial for our country to succeed. To foster ambition, there needs to be a believable feeling that effort and reward are connected; that if people aim high, they can attain. For all administrations, being able to foster a sense of optimism about the tomorrow is crucial. Studies by the academic institution at the academic establishment and others, recently released, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I introduced as education secretary – place-based approaches to boosting academic achievement – led to youth in those neighborhoods being up to nearly one-fifth more optimistic about their future than those in comparable communities without these programmes in place. The data shows: just making an authentic start on equal chance initiatives can quickly and positively change how people feel about their future.
Unaware of these findings, and in the throes of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in autumn 2022, the ruling party ended the initiatives. Why would anyone in those regions vote for a political group that did that? The targeted programme is a single instance of what could have been a game-changing Tory policy platform on social mobility, but that chance was hopelessly squandered. Strategies such as this can generate optimism and ambition. Conversely, as the Tories learned, reneging on commitments of equal opportunity is the biggest blunder any leadership can make. The electorate held accountable the leadership for its failure but, perhaps most of all, for its failed pledges on equal opportunity.
Currently the mandate on social mobility and fair access has been transferred to a opposition party. The old slogan has been cast off. The new government has its own policy language of “eliminating hurdles to advancement”. The political group that is gradually replacing the hapless incumbents, Reform UK, also has its own terminology – “economic renewal”. The terminology to talk about fresh prospects in regions like the one I grew up in, in my hometown. It claims that an former economic strength can be reborn into an industrial future.
For the public, it must seem like a Groundhog Day-style loop. Identical problem, new terminology. However, so far, no progress.
Whether the government and opposition want to prevent the identical outcome, each group should take lessons from the Conservatives’ failure on social mobility; that equal opportunity talk is simple terminology, but successful delivery of improved opportunities is far more challenging. Britain’s endemically weak social mobility remains the primary challenge for our country, with youth unable to get a decent career start, those putting in effort in full-time jobs with few results after the living expenses are met, and individuals nationwide without any genuine belief their next generation will be able to do any better in life than they have.
Politicians can talk about fairer opportunities repeatedly. But where is the organization that has the complete plan on equal opportunity? None appear to exist. The first to achieve this, wins. Not just for their organization, but, crucially, for a whole country that has never needed equal access so badly.
Elara is a passionate writer and photographer who shares insights on creativity and mindful living through engaging storytelling.
