We Tories must ditch elitism and embrace true equality

The Conservative party wins elections when it puts opportunity and aspiration at the heart of its mission. It was as true for Margaret Thatcher in 1979, as it was for Boris Johnson in 2019. Britain has been divided in so many ways but achieving equality of opportunity is a rare unifying message that can gain support from voters across the country.

In many respects, the last election was a fake fight on a single issue: Brexit. The Conservative message was to move beyond our reformed EU relationship to “levelling up”. By contrast, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party ditched improving social mobility as an objective. Labour’s new leader, Sir Keir Starmer, is unlikely to fall into the same ideological abyss as his predecessor. The next election will be very different to the last one. This time, all will put levelling up centre stage.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/04/we-tories-must-ditch-elitism-and-embrace-true-equality

Rt Hon Justine Greening

Founder, Social Mobility Pledge

Former Secretary of State for Education, Minister for Women and Equalities, Secretary of State for International Development, Secretary of State for Transport, Economic Secretary to the Treasury