I’m often asked what social mobility is in simple terms. For me, it’s about one word. Aspiration. It’s about being able to go as far as your effort, talent and hard work can take you in life, unimpeded by class, the school you went to or your background. Social mobility is fundamentally about there being a ladder of opportunity that everyone should have a fair chance of climbing. It’s about having a common stake in our country through having the same chance to build a life here.

I was the first Conservative education secretary to have attended a comprehensive school

However, as this week’s Elitist Britain report by the Sutton Trust and the Social Mobility Commission shows, we’ve got a very long way to go on achieving equality of opportunity. It might be the 21st century, but top jobs in Britain are still dominated by a better-off elite that continues to crowd out talented people who don’t fit their privileged stereotype. As an example, in my own area of politics, the report found 39% of the cabinet at the time of the study went to fee-paying schools. It’s an indictment of the political system that I was the first Conservative education secretary to have attended a comprehensive school. But other sectors including the judicial system and some of our biggest businesses also continue to fish in a talent puddle. Journalism and the media industry – a crucial part of our democracy – is still dominated by those from the most privileged backgrounds. Press freedom is vital. But some get access to use this freedom more than others.

The Sutton Trust report continues to show a version of Britain that’s not just unfair, but one that systemically perpetuates a scandalous waste of this country’s talent. Britain can no longer afford to continue like this, with report after report but no change on the ground. So how do we break the cycle that says where you start largely determines where you end up?

First of all, not by ducking the scandal of weak social mobility, but confronting it head on. The report shows how wrong it was two weeks ago for Jeremy Corbyn to formally ditch social mobility as an objective for a future Labour government. His decision to instead focus on social justice at the exclusion of action on social mobility is perverse and misguided. It’s anti-aspiration. If Jeremy Corbyn won’t support an individual’s aspiration and hope for a better future, how can he deliver it for our country as a whole? He has completely failed to understand that social mobility is not just about a few talented people getting to the top. That’s the problem we face now. Instead, strong social mobility is about everyone reaching their full potential.

And it’s not an either/or question. Both social justice and social mobility matter because it’s about both a route out of poverty and a route up to prosperity. Social justice and social mobility are two sides of the same coin because there is no point striving to find the ladder, if when you do, you’re unable to climb it. We need to achieve both for Britain.

Britain’s top jobs still in hands of private school elite, study finds Read more

I left cabinet last year so I could focus on this issue of social mobility, something that has shaped my own life. It was way more important to me than simply taking the next job in government. And it’s way more important for Britain, that instead of simply struggling on drawing on the talents of a privileged few, everyone is able to succeed on their own terms. These are the challenges that drive me to make sure Britain has equality of opportunity for the first time.

What’s really fired me up, has been meeting the great British businesses and organisations that are making a positive difference. More than 300 of them across the spectrum of industries, representing more than 2.5 million employees, have signed up to the social mobility pledge initiative I set up last year. They are doing their bit to make the ladder of opportunity more accessible by working with local schools, offering apprenticeships and taking a rounded view of someone’s potential through contextual recruitment.

Yes, social mobility is hard and it’s complex. But the solution isn’t to ditch any attempt to achieve it, play politics and give up. Instead let’s make a decision that the status quo simply isn’t acceptable any more. The Elite Britain report is yet another wake-up call for change. Let’s make a decision that we need collective action, not just from government, but from all sectors of business and society.

When the status quo only works for a few of us, then it has to change. And we need change sooner not later.

• Justine Greening is the Conservative MP for Putney