About refnation

refnation is the UK's daily ballot. Every day the same 8 referendums go to the whole country — on the economy, health, immigration, housing, the things people actually argue about — and at midnight every one settles with a written verdict that reads the arguments left on it and quotes the people who made them.

Your votes build a written political profile: where you lean, how often you vote with the UK, the topics that move you. Any member can ask the country a question of their own, one a day; asks are reviewed and selected for the ballot. It is free, and open to anyone in the UK aged 16 or over.

The full walkthrough is on What is refnation?. You can see the country's votes on the constituency map, read every settled question on Verdicts, or find where you stand with the political compass test.

Decisions are made in the public's name every day, mostly without knowing what the public thinks. The instruments we have for finding out are thin: a general election every five years, and opinion polls that sample a few hundred people, weight them, and publish a headline number. Between those, the country has no way to say what it believes.

refnation is an attempt to give it one. Not a poll of a panel — a ballot anyone can vote on, every day, on the same questions, with the result on the record by the morning.

Every vote is equal. A 19-year-old in Liverpool and a 65-year-old in Surrey count exactly the same. Louder voices don't count more; a well-argued case earns respect from other members, not extra votes.

Transparency over spin. The verdict on every referendum is written from what members actually argued, and it quotes them. You can read the arguments and check the verdict against them.

A record, not a snapshot. Every settled referendum stays on the site with its result and its verdict. Over time that is a day-by-day record of what the UK believed and why — not what it was told it believed.

Your politics are yours. Your profile is built from your own votes, not from a party label. Your postcode is used to place you in your constituency and is never shown publicly.

Results here are not official referendums and carry no legal weight. Members are people who chose to take part, not a weighted sample of the country. refnation is a place to find out what people think and why — it is not a news source, and it does not tell anyone how to vote.

refnation is independently built and funded. It is not affiliated with any political party, government body, campaign or media organisation, and it takes no money from any of them. It is non-partisan by design: the ballot carries questions from across the spectrum, and the site does not lean.

Journalists, researchers and anyone with a question can reach us at contact@refnation.uk or through the contact page. Results and verdicts may be quoted with a link to the referendum they come from.