Power and Policy: Inside 10 Downing Street with Vidhya Alakeson
Stephen is a second year law student at the University of Birmingham with an avid interest in social policies such as knife crime. Whilst currently attending a vacation scheme with Hogan Lovells, he has explored the intricacies of both law and politics at the highest level, allowing him to make informed decisions about his future career. As the founder of CLAW, a commercial law mentorship platform, he has worked towards creating change from the bottom up, which reflects his experience on the Patchworks programme exploring grassroots influence on political decisions.
For a long time, politics felt distant: something that happened to communities like mine, but not with us or for us. In 2023, one of my closest friends was a victim of knife crime. It pushed me to ask deeper questions about justice, opportunity, and the systems meant to protect us. Through initiatives such as the 32 Borough Cup, a community-led initiative using football to tackle youth violence, I’ve seen how powerful local action can be. But I’ve also seen its limits.
That’s why I was drawn to Vidhya Alakeson’s Patchwork Masterclass. Her journey from think tanks to the Treasury, and later as CEO of Power to Change, reflects the kind of leadership I want to grow into: someone who turns policy into real change and never forgets the communities that need it most.
Power that listens
Walking through the gates of 10 Downing Street, I couldn’t help but think about how far removed it felt from the communities I grew up in. Places where power isn’t always visible, but its absence is deeply felt. In those neighbourhoods, influence doesn’t come with a title or a policy paper; it shows up in lived experience, local action and people stepping up when systems fall short.
That’s why Vidhya’s story about building Power to Change resonated with me so strongly. She started with a significant mandate and resources, but it wasn’t the scale that stood out to me. It was how she used it. Instead of dictating solutions from a distance, she went into communities, listened first, and built trust. That kind of leadership isn’t about holding power over people; it’s about sharing it with them.
In a political culture that often feels top-down and disconnected, she flipped the model. Communities weren’t treated as recipients: they were leaders. It made me reflect on my own work trying to tackle knife crime, and how much more we could do if institutions backed us with that same belief. Vidhya reminded me that real power isn’t about control: it’s about creating the conditions for others to lead. That’s not just a policy shift. That’s what it truly means to give people the power to change.
Policy: The Myth of Linear Change
A particularly insightful discussion emerged around how policies can receive unexpected reactions, regardless of good intentions. It was a clear reminder: policy doesn’t always land the way it’s intended. The assumption that change is linear: write a paper, implement, and see results, rarely holds true.
Vidhya’s honesty about this gap between intention and impact made me think more critically about the kind of policymaker I want to be. Change doesn’t come just from having the right ideas; it comes from staying close to the people those ideas are meant to serve.
On behalf of all Patchworkers, thank you to Vidhya for sharing her journey with such honesty and insight. I’m leaving this experience not only more grounded, but also more ambitious. I had started to lose faith in the connection between policy and community, unsure if they could truly work in sync. But this masterclass reminded me that when done right, they don’t just coexist, they strengthen each other.
