Members back masks ban and say government isn't doing enough

The day's loudest message was a rebuke: members overwhelmingly voted that the government is not doing enough to help with the cost of living. The twist is that the sharpest No voices wanted less government, not more. "A cost-of-government crisis" was how one put it, and a Yes voter used the very same phrase.

Elsewhere, members backed a ban on face coverings at political protests and street patrols, and did so overwhelmingly. Even the winning side kept adding that the rule must apply to everyone.

The verdicts

The day's closest result came on whether rejoining the EU is worth an estimated £40 billion a year. Yes won only narrowly, and the most-respected No case barely touched the money, arguing instead that undermining democracy is the most expensive mistake a government could make.

Justice and security drew firm answers. Members voted comfortably to keep Palestine Action a proscribed organisation, a case built largely on the break-in at an RAF base. The most-respected No voice never defended the group, only complained about "arresting grannies for holding signs". On stopping travel visas for Russian citizens, members voted against, though only narrowly. The best-rated No case asked for judgment on a case-by-case basis, while the Yes side pointed to Salisbury.

On housing, members voted overwhelmingly to open migrant hotels to homeless people for food and shelter. Plenty of Yes voters were reluctant, one writing that hotels should not be used at all, and the best-respected No case raised safety for vulnerable homeless people.

Two questions about institutions went against the grain. Members narrowly rejected the idea that the UK's two-party system is mainly caused by legacy media treating insurgent parties unfairly, with No voters noting how heavily Reform is covered. And members voted comfortably against making the BBC's Royal Charter permanent, though the top-rated No arguments wanted the BBC defunded outright rather than defended on the charter's terms.

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