Members back interest on energy credit, but reject a defence tax

The sharpest mood of the day was a demand for fairness from energy firms: refnation members voted overwhelmingly for requiring energy companies to pay customers interest on money held in credit. The winning case was blunt, calling the practice "a scam", and the only real worry from the No side was whether interest would then cut the other way, on debt.

The same members were far less keen on new bills of their own, which makes for a tidy theme: pay us, but don't tax us.

The verdicts

The clearest rejection came on defence funding. Members voted overwhelmingly against everyone paying a dedicated tax to fund the UK's defence, though many who said No still want more spent on defence. Their quarrel was with the vehicle, not the cause: "Use the money you get wisely first."

On the border and the ballot box, caution won. Members voted against introducing border checks with Ireland over migration concerns, comfortably, with the top-rated case a blunt question: "What problem does this solve?" Yes voters replied that a border unable to enforce the law "is not secure", but the Good Friday worry weighed heavier. Members also voted comfortably against scrapping the requirement to show photo ID to vote, and the most-respected Yes voter barely dissented, objecting only to its cost.

Energy had a second outing, and a much tighter one. On allowing fracking to restart in the UK, members voted against, and it was the day's closest result. The most-respected case against skipped earthquakes entirely, arguing that houses and countryside protection matter more, while Yes voters pointed to import bills and a 100-year gas estimate.

Elsewhere, members comfortably backed always paying housing benefit directly to landlords, on a plea to "cut out the middleman". They also agreed, comfortably, that government efforts to tackle misinformation threaten free speech, built on one voter's question: "Who appointed the Government arbiter of truth?"

And on foreign policy, members decided overwhelmingly that President Trump was wrong to strike a diesel deal with Russia, with the most-respected voices on both sides circling around hypocrisy.

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