Prime Minister Simulation
The keys to No. 10.
Out now on iPhone and iPad · Android very soon
Red BoxChancellor Simulation
You are the new Chancellor. Your first Budget is the real one: 28 October 2026.
The removal vans have gone, the Treasury's first submission is on your desk, and the country owes nearly £3 trillion. Every month the red box arrives full of decisions. Choose, and live with it.
Download on the App Store
£2.99, paid once. No ads and no subscription.
- 830+decisions in the box
- 287real facts to collect
- 54characters dealt into every job
- 20years a government can last
Getting started
The game teaches itself as you play. A short tour opens on your first month, and you can run it again at any time from the menu: tap Run the tutorial again.
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Form your government
Choose your name and face. Then pick the party that won the election and read the Prime Minister's brief. Its manifesto is now yours to keep.
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Choose your inheritance
Each inheritance is a different set of books to start from, from gentle to brutal. Then hire your special adviser. How honest they are sets how hard the game plays.
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Open the red box
Each month your officials put papers in the box. A paper is a decision. Every option shows what it costs and what your adviser thinks. Answer them all to end the month.
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Watch your four standings
The public, the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and the markets each rate you out of 100. Every decision moves at least one of them. Tap a number to see why it moved.
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End the month
The economy, prices, the polls and the papers all update. If something needs you first, such as a vote or a journalist's call, the button names it and takes you there.
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Play at your own pace
Hold the clock and take each month as it comes, or change the speed in the menu and step in when it matters. The clock waits while a screen is open.
Delivering a Budget
Twice a year you stand at the despatch box. Your first is on 28 October 2026, the same day as the real one.
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Draft it on the Budget tab
Every tax and every department has a lever. Drag one and the bar at the bottom shows what you raise, spend and borrow. Nothing changes in the real books until Budget Day.
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Read the outlook
The outlook forecasts your draft's growth, borrowing and debt over the next two years. A flat budget while prices rise is still a cut.
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Test the water
Leak your draft to a newspaper to see how it lands, or pay for a private poll. You can do each once a month. Neither changes the books.
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Lock the plan
Tap Lock to save the draft as your plan. Budget Day then opens with it ready. You can unlock it at any time.
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Give the speech
On the day, take a Treasury package or your own plan. Then read it out in the House. At the opening, the middle and the close, you choose what to say.
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Face the reaction
The markets judge your borrowing. The public judges your taxes. The party watches the public. Then the autumn Budget's Finance Bill goes to a vote in the House.
Between Budgets
Money does not wait for Budget Day, and neither does anybody else.
The Treasury Reserve
A pay deal, a crisis or a minister's request between Budgets comes out of the Reserve. Spend past its limit and the markets lose confidence.
A journalist is calling
A paper is about to run a story and wants your answer. Pick one of the three written for it. Ignore the call and the story runs at full strength.
The Prime Minister wants you
Sometimes to praise you, sometimes to tell you off. The month cannot end until you have been. Your reply changes how much the Prime Minister trusts you.
The division bell
Vote aye, no or abstain. The whip's advice sits beside the motion. Vote against it and the party's mood and the Prime Minister's trust both fall.
Across the table
Unions, ministers and councils negotiate in rounds. Offer, hold firm, sweeten once, give in or walk away. Every round uses up their patience.
Ministers and editors
Once a month you can meet a minister and take a journalist to lunch. A friendly Cabinet and a friendly paper are worth keeping.
Staying in the job
A government can last twenty years. Most do not. These are the ways it ends, and the way up.
The sack
If the Prime Minister's trust falls too low, you lose your job. Push a tax past what the country will believe and you lose it faster.
A gilt crisis
Lose the markets and the Prime Minister gives you a few months to win them back. Make a statement, reverse your Budget, or wait it out.
The ballot box
Elections come round every four years, and seats follow the polls. Fall short of a majority and you need a partner, who will set a price.
The quarterly review
Every three months the Prime Minister checks your manifesto targets and fiscal rules. Meeting a target earns trust. Missing one costs it.
Cuts have consequences
Starve a department and its service starts to fail. The trouble spreads to the economy, and only funding ends it.
The road to No. 10
If the Prime Minister becomes a liability, the party may come looking for you. It asks one question: would you do a better job?
Five tips for your first government
- Lean on your adviser at first. Their pick is a safe choice: it funds the service and will not upset the Prime Minister. It is not always the best one.
- Guard the Reserve. Every yes between Budgets comes out of it. Save the big decisions for Budget Day, when you can pay for them.
- Always answer the phone. A story you ignore runs at full strength. Even "no comment" is an answer.
- Test before you deliver. Leak the draft or buy a poll in the month before Budget Day. A Budget the papers hate is cheaper to fix before the speech.
- Keep your promises. Every quarter the Prime Minister checks your manifesto targets. Each one missed costs you trust.
Three ways to play
A new government
Pick the party that won and live with its manifesto. Labour, the Conservatives, Reform UK, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Northern Ireland parties are all playable.
Mystery Chancellor
No party and no manifesto. Choose your constituency, govern for two years, and the game tells you whose side you were really on.
The weekly crisis
One crisis a week, the same for every player, with its own leaderboard. See this week's.
Coming soon
Two more games from the Red Box desk.
Frequently asked questions
Something not here? See help and support or email info@ukfactcheck.com.
How much does it cost?
£2.99, paid once. No ads and no subscription.
What do I need to play it?
An iPhone or iPad running iOS 18 or later. Search for Red Box: Chancellor Simulation on the App Store.
Is it on Android?
Very soon. The Android version is built and waiting for Google's approval. It goes on Google Play as soon as Google approves it.
Are the numbers real?
Yes. The debt, the borrowing, the tax yields and the cost of every department come from the OBR, HM Treasury and the ONS. Tap the ⓘ beside any number to see its source. As you play you unlock fact cards, each a real fact about the UK with its source. What you do with the numbers is a simulation.
Is my first Budget really the real one?
The game opens in September 2026 with the real books, and your first Budget falls on 28 October 2026, the same day as the real one. After that, the country is yours.
Does the game favour a party?
No. Every playable party governs on the same footing, with its own pledges, its own Prime Minister and its own cards. Any of them can win. The seven newspapers are fictional, each with its own politics.
Are the politicians real people?
No. Fifty-four painted characters are dealt into every job each run: the Cabinet, the Prime Minister, your advisers, every editor and every union chair. No real politician appears in the game.
How long does a game last?
As long as you survive, up to twenty years in office. A run ends when you are sacked, resign or lose an election. Start again from the title screen and a new cast is dealt.
I keep getting sacked. Is there an easier way in?
Choose a gentler inheritance and an honest adviser when you start. An honest adviser is nearly always straight with you and shows the figures. Then follow their pick on papers you are unsure about.
Do I need an account?
No. The whole game plays without one. Sign in with a free UK Fact Check account only if you want your results on the leaderboards. The game asks before it posts anything.
Does it work offline?
Yes. The game runs on your device. You need a connection only for the weekly crisis and the leaderboards.
Where are my saved games?
On your device, and only there. If you delete the app, your saved games go with it.
Can I play with VoiceOver or large text?
Yes. Every control works with VoiceOver, text follows your iPhone's text size, and every up or down arrow carries a mark, so nothing is told by colour alone.
How do I see the tutorial again?
Open the menu during a game and tap Run the tutorial again.
I found a bug. Who do I tell?
Email info@ukfactcheck.com with what happened and your device. A screenshot helps.
Made by UK Fact Check. The game teaches the real machinery: where the money comes from, where it goes, and why the Bank of England doesn't answer to the Chancellor.