Born and raised in County Durham, he is the founder of the Northern Independence Party (NIP), a minor political party which advocates that Northern England becomes an independent country under its historic name, "Northumbria",[3] and campaigns against what it sees as political and economic centralisation in the UK.

[4] A former member of the Labour Party, Proudfoot founded the NIP in October 2020 in response to dissatisfaction with the centrist outlook of Keir Starmer's leadership and what he sees as the treatment of the North during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[5] He told Big Issue North that the centralisation of power in London had also played a part, highlighting the North–South divide in healthcare, transport, education, and general standard of living as motivating factors.

[6] Proudfoot lives in Brighton and Hove, having moved there due to a lack of job opportunities in his field in County Durham.

[4] On 25 April 2022, the actress Tracy-Ann Oberman announced that she had agreed to pay Proudfoot substantial damages after falsely accusing him of antisemitism.