As the struggling Conservative party meets in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has much to ponder regarding its future direction. Doubt remains if a viable path remains open. We are in tough times for a governing group that now has almost nothing, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the public.
It could have been vastly better if tangible progress had been made on an priority that is important for people nationwide: Social mobility. But Boris Johnson’s government lacked the first clue on how to turn the trendy talk on levelling up into actual implementation. For the two years after the 2019 election, it discussed what the phrase even meant.
I was perplexed, because I had previously explained to the Prime Minister what levelling up signified when we initially discussed about it during his leadership campaign. The expression was a concept I originated and used at the education ministry to talk about social mobility. It was our guiding principle, and its definition is straightforward: social mobility is the means by which we realize equal access – without removing opportunity away from those who possess it, but rather by extending opportunities to those that are without.
An additional vital DfE phrase we used, “talent is spread evenly throughout the nation, however access isn’t”, served as a purposeful phrase, reflecting the dual components of a social mobility strategy. To begin with, talent spread evenly but not cultivated evenly through our schools and colleges. Furthermore, access not provided uniformly by the private sector or our economic system. Thus, education and business were crucial to achieving stronger social mobility. This constituted an agenda about the community framework of our country – fostering human talent and connecting them to prospects.
How did levelling up become under the previous government? Local investment schemes overseen from the DLUHC. Street beautification and reconfigured roundabouts and roads. A government strategy was released nearly three years after the Prime Minister took office, which saw ongoing initiatives rebadged under the new levelling up banner.
As a result, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went undeveloped, as well as all the reform that it may have generated – in investment, commerce, fiscal strategy, revenue and in community development. And, of course, in learning, including a higher education sector that has become a scapegoat for leaders across parties – even though it remains the primary vehicle of social mobility for young working-class people, like me, this country has had over the past 30 years. Maybe the primary source of social mobility, working extensively.
Aspiration is crucial for our country to thrive. For hope to exist, there needs to be a realistic expectation that dedication and outcome are related; that if people dream big, they can succeed. For any government, being able to foster a feeling of hope about the future is important. Studies by the research body at Bath University and others, published last month, showed that the education department’s targeted regions I introduced as education secretary – community-focused methods to enhancing learning results – led to students in those neighborhoods being up to nearly one-fifth more hopeful about their life ahead than those in comparable communities without these programmes in place. The evidence is clear: just making an genuine beginning on equal chance initiatives can swiftly and beneficially change how people feel about their destiny.
Ignoring this evidence, and in the throes of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in September 2022, the Tory administration ended the initiatives. Why should any person in those areas vote for a political group that did that? The opportunity areas policy is a single instance of what could have been a game-changing administration strategy on social mobility, but that opportunity was completely wasted. Approaches such as this can create belief and drive. Conversely, as the ruling party learned, breaking the promise of fair chances is the most expensive error any government can make. The public penalized the administration for its incompetence but, above all, for its failed pledges on levelling up.
Currently the responsibility on social mobility and equality of opportunity has passed to a Labour government. The levelling up rhetoric has been abandoned. The new government has its own public messaging of “breaking down the barriers to opportunity”. The party that is increasingly displacing the struggling Conservative party, the alternative party, also has its own terminology – “economic renewal”. This expression to talk about fresh prospects in areas like the one I grew up in, in South Yorkshire. It claims that an industrial past can revive into an modern manufacturing sector.
To the electorate, it must feel like a Groundhog Day-style loop. Identical problem, alternative phrasing. However, so far, no progress.
Whether the government and opposition want to avoid the same fate, each group should learn from the previous government’s errors on levelling up; that equal opportunity talk is one thing, but successful delivery of fairer outcomes is significantly more difficult. Britain’s endemically weak life chances remains the primary challenge for our country, with youth unable to get a proper professional launch, those working hard in occupations with minimal progress after the rent has been paid, and individuals nationwide without any genuine belief their offspring will be able to do advance in life than they have.
Politicians can mention equal chances repeatedly. However, which party has the organization that has the comprehensive policy agenda on equal opportunity? I see none. The first to achieve this, wins. Not only for themselves, but, more importantly, for a complete society that has never needed equality of opportunity so urgently.
