Levelling up more important today than even before the pandemic with inequality gaps widening - Justine Greening

And it was a year that saw a level of political chaos rarely seen in this country. Boris Johnson, found his position as Prime Minister untenable as the public and his Parliamentary party lost patience - with parties during lockdown, inquiries into whether he misled Parliament and a lack of candour on how he dealt with Ministerial misconduct.

As a cost of living crisis built up, an ensuing protracted leadership contest over the summer left our wider country waiting not only for its conclusion but also decisions on how best to support households and businesses with spiralling energy bills.

The resultant premiership of Liz Truss was anything but an antidote to the cost of living crisis. Having been involved in budgets as a Treasury and Cabinet Minister I’ve never seen anything quite like Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwateng’s ‘mini budget’.

Utterly ill judged, it gained a notoriety that will never be erased. Its impact on mortgage rates, our wider economy and on the Government’s economic credibility led to a fracturing of support for the Conservative Party in the opinion polls.

By the time the country had reached the October half-term break, Liz Truss had resigned, spending less time in office than the length of the leadership contest that put her in place.

The late Queen Elizabeth once talked about an ‘annus horribilis’ for the Royal Family but that is exactly what 2022 has proved to be for the Conservative Party.

It brings us to where we are today, as we reach the end of the year. A Rishi Sunak administration grappling with stabilising its Parliamentary party after the utter chaos that had gone before, an economy now tipped into recession, public sector pay strikes on the back of soaring inflation, and illegal immigration levels that even the Home Secretary has called ‘out of control’.

Yet we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that those issues are about navigating today, next week and the next few months. But what about the future? Can it be more than just crisis management? 2023 will be the year we find out.

The Conservative Party faces challenges internally and externally. Yet a party in Government can shape this country for the better. For Labour, however rosy the opinion polls, the party’s journey from Opposition to Government is by no means assured. A Labour programme for future Government is much more than simply holding the current Cabinet and Ministers to account, however effectively done that might be.

From both parties, the public want and deserve something straightforward - a clarity of purpose on the kind of Britain they seek to create. To be credible in government, both parties must be clear about what they want to achieve but also why. It's about more than rhetoric.

Sunak has sought to portray himself as a better manager as Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street. It’s crucial but not enough. Running Britain is not the same as leading it. What's the next stage of this country’s journey, post Brexit, post Covid-19 that he or Sir Keir Starmer want to take Britain on?

In the 2019 election, the public also spoke with real clarity about what sort of Britain they want. If we agree on one thing, it’s about the need to create a level playing field on opportunity. It’s the overwhelming challenge of our time.

Addressing it means not only a fairer Britain but a more successful one. Getting there cannot just mean more of the same. It means a sharper, smarter approach on education, with more investment in our nation’s talent at every stage of our lives from early years into adulthood.

It means an employment sector making more accessible opportunities and measuring its progress, whilst also directly working upstream in partnership with our education system to close attainment and development gaps.

It means removing and overcoming the barriers that block talent from progressing - from tackling the digital divide and entrepreneurship skills, to financial literacy and access to better careers advice.

Covid-19 has seen our inequality gaps widen rather than narrow. If levelling up was an issue in 2019 before the pandemic, it is an even greater challenge today. Yet my work on social mobility tells me it’s a nettle we can successfully grasp. We should do so.

There’s a lot at stake. Britain’s democracy and the two main parties that dominate it are truly reaching a crossroads. As we emerge from the chaos of 2022 and the pandemic years preceding it, our country cannot simply drift along, buffeted by the prevailing economic winds of the day. Instead, we have to chart our own clear course ahead, giving the British people a sense of hope for the future.

Whatever the challenges of today, we should not put off taking the clear, ambitious steps on investing in education and skills that will be required to level up Britain. It is a direction for our country we can all buy into.

It will require our political system to work collectively for the common good so policy can have traction for the long term, eschewing the chopping and changing of the past. It will depend not solely on the managerial ability of our leaders but also their leadership ability and vision.

2022 is nearly finished and history now. It turned out to be an exceptionally difficult year. Let’s hope that 2023 is the year Britain turns the corner and faces towards a better future.

Justine Greening, who was born and raised in Rotherham, is a former Secretary of State for Education.