#01. Knowledge

Helping us Make the Best Decisions

We will publish a series of clear documents setting out the major realities, risks and choices facing the United Kingdom as honestly as possible. 

The University of Cambridge is helping to assemble this shared understanding of reality.

The documents will show where serious and well-informed people disagree, and will be published openly for anyone to test, challenge and improve.

The aim is not a single official version of the truth, but a transparent, shared starting point our country can reason from together — one its critics are invited to question.

#02. Dialogue

Discussing the Biggest Challenges we Face

We will find out where informed public judgement lies through deliberation, in partnership with the Stanford Deliberative Democracy Lab

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What is Deliberation?

Deliberation is the careful consideration & discussion of different options and alternatives, before making a decision. It involves weighing the pros, cons, and consequences of a choice.

Our core method is one of the world’s most rigorously tested methods for public deliberation, proven to reduce polarisation, increase trust, and help people find common ground.

It enables us to show where informed public judgement lies on the issues that matter most.

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A large group of citizens will come together to weigh the realities facing the UK. They will be selected to represent the public as faithfully as possible. They will hear evidence and arguments from many sides and deliberate on the questions they decide matter most. 

For the first time, this process will uncover where informed public judgement lies — not poll responses to headlines, but a considered view, formed through broad deliberation. It will provide one of the clearest pictures a modern democracy can have of its people’s considered judgement.

We will extend the deliberation into communities, businesses, workplaces, schools, universities, prisons, places of shelter and refuge, and public life. Millions of people will be able to take part, with strong protections for privacy and against manipulation. 

By giving society itself the opportunity to participate in shaping its future, informed public judgement will lead to informed public consent.

#03. Strategy

Steering Our Long Term Future

This knowledge and these public judgements will be the raw materials for a National Strategy — a clear, public account of what our country says it wants and what it is prepared to accept,

Our ambition is to publish the UK’s first National Strategy before the next general election.

#04. Action

Turning Ideas into Reality

We will encourage, convene and influence those with power to deliver the National Strategy.

The National Strategy binds no one. Any party is free to take it up, adapt it or reject it. Voters will weigh how well politicians respond. For the first time, political choices can be judged against a shared understanding of the future our society wants and what it will take to achieve it.

#05. Institute for Our Nation

The Critical Enabler

We will found the Institute for our Nation as a permanent home for UK strategy, independent of government. It will oversee the knowledge base and deliberations, and will develop our national strategy and encourage those with power to deliver it. 

• Dedicated to the long-term public good
• Independent from political parties and government
• Reflecting every part of the country
• Maintaining a consistent direction over multiple election cycles
• Monitoring government action and reporting progress to voters
• Continually updating the national strategy, in dialogue with the public

This will be the first national strategy cycle, not the last. The Institute for our Nation will continue to hold deliberations, update the knowledge base, and refresh the national strategy.

With sustained effort towards shared goals the country has chosen, the big decisions can be taken, the big investments made — and a better future can begin to take shape.