Torrin is the Founder and Director of Centre Think Tank. As a campaigner he has worked on issues such as those excluded from the income support schemes, the justice system and on equalities issues.

There are two reasons I got involved in politics. The first is I grew up between Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire which means I had nature on my front door. It showed me why we need to protect the environment and that we need to do something about it. The other reason I started to get involved in politics was just having more conversations about big political issues. Whether it was around the dinner table or in school I became really engaged and wanted to solve issues at a local level. That meant I became more active in both local politics and I started a debating society at Melbourn Village College, my comprehensive secondary school.

During my time at Long Road I started to get more involved in national politics. I was interviewed on the radio talking about the new Metro Mayor Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. I also appeared on BBC Look East asking Chris Skidmore, Minister for the Constitution, about the new Mayor and whether it risked turnout issues similar to police and crime commissioners.

I also made a speech about the US election in 2016 at the US embassy to the United States ambassador to the United Kingdom. Unsurprisingly I supported Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump.

I’m still an Alumni of Long Road and you can see my profile here:

During the EU referendum I made the decision to back the leave campaign. I supported the UK leaving the EU and joining EFTA like Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein. This meant leaving the EU and the Customs Union whilst staying in the single market. Both during and after the referendum I took part in multiple in person debates, radio interviews and TV appearances all on the issue of Brexit.

I created what would later become Centre just after the EU referendum. The referendum had split people between two sides when there were more than two relationships the UK could have with the EU. This started a longer journey towards a new moderate and centrist organisation.

During my time at Aberystwyth University Centre was created. I did this with the help of other people at the University and we filmed our first ever advert there. Aberystwyth also taught me a lot about the importance of devolution and the history of Wales.

During the pandemic millions of people were unable to access the governments income support schemes. It left some with no income and an no way to access the Universal Credit system. We were also seeing businesses hit by the lack of support and some even needed to close. As someone who supports a competitive economy and the idea of a safety net for those who fall on hard times, this needed to be corrected.

I decided to launch Centre’s campaign on this issue and it was the largest campaign we have ever run. During the campaign I published three papers alongside some great co-writers, spoke at two events calling on the government to support more people and presented one of our plans to the Gaps in Support APPG.

The campaign saw the Gaps in Support APPG recommend the plan to the Chancellor. We also shared the stories of of some of those who had been excluded in our papers and received coverage for our plans in the Yorkshire Post.

Backbench:

Between August and November 2021 I wrote a weekly column for Backbench.

1828:

I wrote three articles for 1828 looking at housing, justice and transport. These articles were published between 2019 and 2020.

Volteface:

I wrote for Volteface on “Why Centrists Should Support Drug Policy Reform”.

Young Fabians:

In 2022 I wrote about “Protecting Local Justice” following on from the Centre paper on the same subject.

Comprehensive Future:

I wrote about why we should abolish the grammar school and secondary modern system in 2020.

United Politics:

In 2019 I wrote about how we should fight climate change.