Five ideas. Where the conversation starts.

1. Citizens set spending priorities

Every year, citizens vote on the proportions of government spending across major departments - health, defence, housing, education, international development, and others. Government fills in the detail, but the balance is set by the public, not the Treasury. The outcome binds in both directions: a citizen mandate for more defence spending carries the same force as one for more health spending.

2. Clean money in politics

Publicly funded campaigns as the only source of political party funding, with the exception of membership fees. No donor, corporation, union, or any other organised interest can purchase political influence. Membership fees remain permitted - they represent citizens voluntarily supporting a party with their own money, which is different in kind from any external financial interest seeking a return.

3. A citizens assembly with binding powers

Once a year, a randomly selected citizens assembly deliberates on one major issue chosen by DDD participants and produces a recommendation that government is legally required to act on. Past candidates have included drugs policy and planning reform - decisions where the political class has proved unwilling to lead. Citizens assemblies have been used in Ireland and the UK with significant success, but their recommendations have always been advisory. This proposal gives the process teeth.

4. Accountable media for everyone

All significant news organisations - print, digital, and broadcast - must join a statutory-backed regulator with real sanctions. Sanctions include mandatory corrections with equivalent prominence to the original story, financial penalties proportionate to revenue, and individual editor liability for repeat breaches. The current voluntary system means outlets that mislead the public face no meaningful consequence. This changes that, for all of them.

5. Arms sales accountability

If a country is sanctioned by the UN, ICC, or equivalent international body, DDD participants can vote to remove any existing parliamentary approval for arms sales to that country. The UK currently sells arms to governments under active international sanction. Those decisions are made behind closed doors with no meaningful citizen input. This proposal creates a direct mechanism for citizens to withdraw approval when the international community has already judged a government's conduct unacceptable.

6. Reform the House of Lords

Withdraw the parliamentary approval of up to ten members of the House of Lords each year. DDD participants vote and rank their preferences to decide who should go. The House of Lords has 752 sitting members. Nobody elected them. Many were appointed by the prime ministers they served. This proposal does not abolish the Lords. It begins returning it to democratic accountability, one year at a time, through citizen choice rather than party patronage.

7. Migration matched to need

Each year, citizens review independently verified workforce data and vote on which sectors qualify for expedited migration pathways. The decision is evidence-based, time-limited, and renewed annually. It does not set an overall migration target - it gives citizens direct, reviewable control over where labour shortages justify a specific response.

8. Public sector and MP pay ratification

Senior public sector salaries and MP pay above a set multiple of median public sector pay require annual citizen ratification through the DDD platform. Those who serve the public should be accountable to the public for what they are paid.

9. Spend £1bn of our money, our way

£1bn of public money - £20 per adult in the UK - is allocated directly to communities to spend as they decide. Using ward boundaries, every adult in a ward votes individually on how the money is used. Local groups - whether a pub quiz team, a boxing club, a food bank, or an allotment collective - deliberate together, research local needs, develop proposals, and make the case to their neighbours. Every voter sees every proposal. Every vote carries equal weight.

This is not a consultation. It is citizens in direct control of public money, for the first time. The amount can flex. The principle does not.