Members back fortnightly bins by a mile, and schools' arts funding only just scrapes through

Monday's ballot had one landslide with rats in the argument and one photo finish with a STEM devotee in the winner's corner. Members overwhelmingly backed a legal minimum of a fortnightly rubbish collection, the most-respected Yes case boiled down to four words: "Fortnightly. Not optional. Public health. Rats." At the other end of the day, Should music and the arts get a bigger share of school funding? was the day's closest result: Yes won, led by a self-described STEM fan who called the choice a false one, while No fell back on the plain point that budgets are limited.

The verdicts

Should workers under 21 be paid the same minimum wage as older colleagues doing the same job? Yes won narrowly, even though the most-respected arguments were all No, mostly asking "Who will train them?" Yes voters answered with rent, petrol and a plain principle of same job, same pay.

Should meat from animals slaughtered without stunning have to be sold in separate shops from other meat? Yes won narrowly, though the sharpest line from the winners was a confession: "I've said yes, but non-stun slaughter should be banned totally." Even No voters mostly wanted a ban, not what the question offered.

Should shops have to close from 6pm on Christmas Eve until 8am on 27th December? No won narrowly, and even its most-respected voice conceded that staff should not be forced to work on bank holidays. The argument was over who decides, the state or the shop.

Is Treasury minister Emma Reynolds right that employers are not 'working people'? Members overwhelmingly said no, with a chorus of owners reporting their own hours. "Those 70 hours a week" was the top-rated rebuttal, while the Yes side managed one drier point about what the phrase has always meant.

Should the number of civil servants be cut sharply? Yes won comfortably, its voters calling the state "out of control". The best-respected No cases asked what these civil servants actually do and pointed to DOGE as a warning.

Are the sentences courts give criminals too soft? Yes won comfortably, though its backers kept arguing about proportion, one complaining of years in jail for social media posts beside suspended sentences for assaults. The No side's top-ranked line was that the question itself is broken.

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