About base
base is a place to vote on real UK policies, one question at a time, with no party names on the ballot. Every vote is counted in public, and together they make the UK mandate: what people actually want, between elections.
What is base for?
Once every five years you get one cross, and it has to carry everything you think about tax, the NHS, Europe, housing and the rest. base is for the years in between. You vote on the policies themselves, and everyone can see what the country really wants while it can still change things.
How does voting work?
Each question has real policies as its answers, across 14 areas: democracy, Europe and the world, defence, immigration, the economy and tax, work and pay, welfare and pensions, housing, health and care, education and children, energy, environment and water, crime and justice, rights and conscience, and culture and the countryside. Take the Fast Track, six quick taps, or pick the areas you care about. Party names stay hidden until you've voted, so you choose on the policies alone. Afterwards you see which party comes closest to you. Start voting.
What is the UK mandate?
The UK mandate is what people on base back, question by question. People count towards it once they've answered in 7 of the 14 areas, and a question gets a mandate once enough of them have voted on it. How base counts sets out every rule, with today's numbers.
What is the Baseline?
Your Baseline is the level no one in the UK should fall below. It runs from Self-reliance, through Safe and free, A safety net and A fair start, to Security for all. It doesn't vote for you. It helps you spot the answers that fit what you value, and it places you on the mandate map.
Where do the policies come from?
Every answer is a real policy, drawn from what parties, think tanks and campaigns propose, plus a few from beyond the mainstream. Sources shows who backs each answer, where that comes from and when it was last checked, alongside the national polls on each question.
How does base compare me with the polls and the parties?
Where there are published national polls on a question, base shows them with the pollster, the date and the sample size. Parties are placed from the answers they back. Parties never get a colour on base: violet is always you, and mint is always the polls.
Is it anonymous?
Yes. There's no sign-up and no email. Your answers are filed under a random number, never with your name, email or postcode. We keep your constituency, never your postcode, and you can delete your answers at any time. Your answers are never sold or shared with advertisers. More in Privacy.
How big is base?
Early days. base is still a prototype, so the numbers on the site come from its first voters. They'll swing a lot and don't speak for the whole country yet. The more people vote, the more the mandate means.
Who runs base?
base is an independent prototype made by the writer of Beyond Survival, a Substack about economics and democracy, and of the 2023 book Beyond a Survival Economy.
How do I get in touch?
Tell us what works, what doesn't and what's missing on the feedback page, or leave a comment on Beyond Survival.