Milburn to tackle ‘elitist’ professions

Credit crunch. Global crisis. Job losses. No one expects 2009 to be anything other than a tough year. With the fog of pessimism all-pervasive, this might seem an odd time to highlight a ray of optimism. And yet when the global upturn comes, as it will, I believe that a great opportunity will emerge: to unleash a new wave of social mobility in Britain.

Despite the global downturn, the world economy is expected to double in size in the next 20 years. Across the world, the middle class will treble as new markets, new industries and new jobs develop. The issue for Britain is how we can share in this future global expansion and so increase the numbers of our citizens who can aspire to a middle-class lifestyle.

Like many in my generation, I have had that chance in my life. I was lucky. I grew up on a council estate and ended up in the cabinet. I benefited from a good family, a strong community and a society that was moving from 1950s rigidness to 1960s openness. Social mobility was in full swing. The reforms of the postwar years – universal education and the welfare state – provided unheard-of opportunities for working-class kids to get on. And as professional and service-based jobs grew, so more room was created at the top of British society.

In the decades since then, birth, not worth, has become more and more a determinant of people’s life chances. But the latest evidence suggests that the long-running decline in social mobility has bottomed out. This is the right time for the government to make its core purpose creating an upwardly mobile society again.

While Gordon Brown has rightly made the immediate priority getting the country through the global economic downturn, the government needs to take action now to prepare Britain for the opportunities that will arise in the future. Provided that we make the right choices as a country, people will have more chances to fulfil their aspirations and move themselves up in the world.

And we know, from evidence across the globe, what makes for a more upwardly mobile society. An economic policy that prioritises high skills and quality jobs. A welfare system that encourages work, not dependence. Early-years education that is comprehensive and high quality. Schools that have rising standards. Learning that is for life. Families that are supported. Communities that are empowered. Individuals that own assets and feel they have a real stake in society.

On each of these fronts Labour has made progress in the past decade. But while the glass ceiling in British society has been raised, it has not yet been broken. A renewed drive is needed. Take access to the professions. Of our country’s top barristers, 7 in 10 went to private schools, compared with just 1 in 10 who went to state comprehensives. Despite the best efforts of many professional bodies, a similar pattern affects careers in medicine, the senior civil service and the senior ranks of the armed services as well as those in the media, the arts and academia. Financial obstacles, cultural barriers, recruitment practices and scholarship and internship shortages all contribute to narrowing the recruitment base of these key – and growing – professions.

It cannot be right that bright young people find themselves unable to get on the professional career ladder simply for these sorts of reasons. And the professions themselves need access to the widest possible pool of talent. That is why the prime minister has asked me to chair a panel looking at what more needs to be done so that the best people, regardless of their backgrounds, have a fair crack of the whip when it comes to securing a professional career. With 90% fewer unskilled jobs and 50% more professional jobs expected in Britain by 2020, our future success depends on unlocking the talents of all our people.

I hope the panel – alongside this week’s government white paper on social mobility – will help to open up Britain so that no matter what their background, everyone can make the most of their potential. This is not simply an issue for those at the very bottom of society. It matters to what President Clinton once famously called the “forgotten middle class”. If the aspirations that most hard-working families have for themselves, their children and their communities are thwarted, then social responsibility and individual endeavour are both undermined. Getting Britain moving socially is more than just about beating poverty. It is about unleashing aspiration.

It requires government action now, just as government action in the 1940s helped to usher in that first great wave of upward social mobility which I and so many others were able to ride. That is why those arguing that government should step aside are badly wrong. A mobile society requires both an active state and active citizens.

This is the time when government needs to extend opportunities and further empower citizens so that they can realise their own aspirations to progress. Investing today will pay a social dividend tomorrow. And out of the gloom of the present it will provide hope for the future.

Alan Milburn is MP for Darlington

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