If there is a dividing line in Britain today, it’s whether you truly believe our country’s talent is spread evenly or whether you say it but don’t really mean it.

I believe people in communities like Rotherham, where I grew up, have every bit as much talent as those in more affluent parts of the country. It’s why I’m passionate about social mobility.

But some of the fiercest debates I had in Government with officials in No10 and No11 were on higher education policy. Whilst it was taken for granted university was, of course, right for their children, apparently it wasn’t always right for other people’s children. Student numbers needed to be reined in.

I questioned whether they believed, as I did, that Britain’s talent is evenly spread. Their arguments were that for some students university wasn’t a suitable path, that they were better suited to a further education level not beyond. Or that a degree wasn’t good value for them as they wouldn’t potentially get a graduate job, implying they shouldn’t even try in the first place.

A sense that having to overcome more barriers to make it to university was a reflection of the person themselves and a lower potential rather than the circumstances they faced or the failure of successive Governments to address those barriers. We hear the same case being made today.

These are lazy tropes from people who represent the problem not the solution. It’s often a good test to ask if they themselves went to university – they usually did.

Tellingly, the overwhelming majority of young people from the most privileged backgrounds go to university. If talent really is spread evenly, that suggests a university education is good for everyone across society. Or logically applying the arguments we hear made about how higher education isn’t for everyone, ironically the real problem on student numbers is too many privileged young people going on to higher education who would be better suited to a further education route. Yet we see no steps taken to tackle this aspect of the problem.

The usual statistic highlighted by those arguing against wider access to university is of graduates failing to get graduate jobs and having lower earnings post graduation. But that misses whether there are enough graduate opportunities locally. Or whether the sectors graduates aim for such as law and banking are sufficiently open to today’s modern, diverse Britain. Or whether you’ve gone on to set up your own business, where initially you’ll likely take a very low salary to help build up the company. Or whether you’re in the creative industry where freelancing is the norm, so a salary isn’t the way payment happens. Or whether you go on to become a teacher, or a nurse, paid less than other professions but doing a vital public service career.

And it misses that this is still a country where who you know often matters more than what you know.

Statistics show a person from a lower socio-economic background getting a better class degree will nevertheless on average earn less post graduation than their lower-performing but more privileged counterpart on the same course at the same university. Connections matter.

The reality is that universities from York to Liverpool, Bradford to Lincoln, Staffordshire to Southampton, are playing a huge role levelling up their communities, delivering a talent pipeline crucial for future economic success and regeneration. It is enabling more people – both young and mature students to get better educated with higher-level skills.

They have built a powerful wider network with schools, colleges and employers to drive choices and opportunities for people locally. With the rise of so-called commuter students, these universities are often serving local people with exactly the kind of levelling up opportunities Ministers claim they want to see.

And it’s attracting investment – you only have to look at Big 4 accountant pwc’s office in Bradford, specifically located there to tap into the city’s graduate talent, to see what a university’s work building up local talent can lead on to. Another great example is the work of the University of Lincoln and its National Centre for Food Manufacturing generating agri-tech investments and higher skilled jobs in parts of Lincolnshire where opportunities were previously scarce.

This is levelling up in action. Ministers should develop policy informed by best practice that pushes for more of this from our higher education sector, not less. Improved quality of vocational education is crucial and was a key focus for me as Education Secretary.

But for me it was about opening up choices on education, not closing them down. Access to university was a crucial building block on my own journey. It levelled up my own life’s opportunities and it’s every bit as important for a new generation today, above all in the communities across Yorkshire.

Universities can be a crucial building block for levelling up - Justine Greening