Members back dentist pay and indexed tax bands, but turn down national service

The day's sharpest result was also its smallest: national service for 18 to 21-year-olds not in education, work or training only just fell. Should 18 to 21-year-olds not in education, work or training have to do national service? Members voted against it, and the margin was the closest of the day. Yes voters kept insisting service need not mean the military; the most-respected No case came from a veteran who called the forces "not a dumping ground" for failed policy.

The verdicts

The day's most lopsided answer went to a familiar complaint. Should taxpayers be able to choose where part of their income tax is spent? Members said no, overwhelmingly, with the leading argument as blunt as they come: "You choose by electing a government".

On tax and the Treasury, members leaned towards keeping money in pockets. Should income tax thresholds rise with inflation every year, even if it means less money for public services? Yes won comfortably, driven by the charge that frozen bands are "a tax raise by stealth". Was the Chancellor right to rule out raising capital gains tax in the upcoming Budget? Members said yes, again comfortably, with backers insisting "there is no free lunch here".

Health and work produced clear majorities too. Should NHS dentists be paid more to take on more NHS patients? Yes won overwhelmingly, though many of its supporters wanted dentistry folded properly into the NHS rather than just a pay rise. Should employers have to prove no UK worker is available before hiring from abroad? Members comfortably said yes, with one argument being that "we can't have the entire world as a recruitment pool at all times".

Two results came with asterisks. Should British citizens who fight in Israel's army face prosecution when they return? Members comfortably voted against prosecution, and some of the angriest No voters accused the question itself of bias. Should the UK increase school funding to avoid the kind of unrest seen in France? Members narrowly said no, yet many No voters were keen to say schools deserve more money, just not as a way of appeasing rioters.

A fresh ballot opens today, and the vote-by-vote profiles keep building with it.

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