Gwyneth Rolph - Policy Development Coordinator

I did not imagine that, after 25 years of campaigning for the UK's freedom to make its own democratic decisions without interference from unelected supranational bodies, I would be starting again with a new political party. Yet in my view, Brexit was only one battle. In other respects, the broader trend toward centralisation of power and authoritarian global governance continues apace.

Today, that trend is increasingly visible in the growing reach of the state into everyday life. Proposals such as digital ID systems raise serious questions about privacy, civil liberties, and the changing relationship between the individual and government. The risk is not only bureaucratic expansion, but a fundamental shift in which personal freedoms are incrementally curtailed in the name of convenience, security, or compliance.

It is therefore time to raise public awareness of how these changes affect ordinary people, often in subtle but far-reaching ways. That is why I am campaigning with the Freedom Alliance party to defend local democracy, individual liberty, and accountable government.

As a PhD student and university tutor, I am deeply concerned about the pressures facing students and academic life more broadly. While the disruption of recent years through lockdowns and restrictions were the original catalyst for the formation of our party, new challenges are emerging, including geopolitical instability and the threat this poses to young people's futures. As a scientist, I am also concerned about the direction of research in an environment where intellectual independence risks being constrained by political and institutional pressures.

In my role as Policy Development Coordinator and executive group member, I have now completed a full draft set of party policies and continue to contribute to the development of a comprehensive manifesto. Alongside this, I am working to build grassroots support through local campaign groups in North London and beyond, and have produced guidance materials to support others in establishing their own local Freedom Alliance branches.