Members tell the state to keep its hands off their money and their streaming

The day's clearest message was a wary one about who gets to reach into members' pockets. A streaming licence was rejected overwhelmingly, with No voters returning to one idea: if the BBC wants their money, it should compete for it. Even Yes voters, defending the corporation, kept conceding it needs reform.

The verdicts

The same instinct ran through Should HMRC be allowed to take unpaid tax directly from people's bank accounts without a court order? Members said no by a landslide, and the worry was not about paying: one No voter has "no issue with HMRC going to court", just with skipping the checks.

On crime and punishment, Should prisoners be allowed to vote in elections? drew an overwhelming No, boiled down by one voter to a bargain: "You lose freedom, you lose the vote." Yes voters countered that rehabilitation needs people to remain members of society.

Members were happy to lean on business, up to a point. Should the Budget raise the tax on betting-shop gambling machines, even if some shops close? won overwhelmingly, with a former bookies manager calling the machines part of "factories of human misery". Meanwhile Should the UK offer tax breaks to attract companies to move their headquarters here? won comfortably, with Ireland the rival on every lip, though the most-respected No voter dismissed it as paying firms to move "a brass plaque".

Two comfortable calls on public services and welfare followed. Members rejected a cap in Should there be a limit on how many times the NHS funds free addiction treatment for one person?, with the best-backed case simply stating that "Relapse is literally a common part of addiction". In Should the UK replace unemployment benefit with a guaranteed 8 hours a week at minimum wage?, Yes won comfortably, though doubters asked where the jobs would come from, one calling it "magicing jobs out of thin air".

The day's closest result went to Should Overseas Territories like Gibraltar and the Falklands get seats in the House of Lords? It lost narrowly, and many No voters said they were not against a voice, only against more unelected peers: "Happy to give them a voice, but unelected appointees, no."

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