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Should every email sent be charged a flat fee of 1p, paid to the 'first hop' ISP by the sender?
EconomyEnded 8 Aug

Should every email sent be charged a flat fee of 1p, paid to the 'first hop' ISP by the sender?

Yes 17%No 83%158 votes cast

Email has long been free for most users in the UK, funded by advertising, subscriptions, or ISP bundles, but this leads to massive spam volumes that burden networks and inboxes. A 1p flat fee paid by the sender to the first-hop ISP would add a small monetary cost to every message, potentially filtering junk while generating revenue for infrastructure. The idea draws from older proposals to price internet externalities, though no UK government has implemented it as of 2026.

Jump to opinions· 4

The proposal was met not by a rival design, but by practical doubt, fee fatigue and silence from its supporters.

“I'm not sure what you mean by first hop ISP. Its an idea that draws from older internet technologies where companies sending mail had mail servers on premise. My company email goes out through Microsoft 365 and through an online marketing comms platform. So the first hop ISP is the one they use which in the case of Microsoft is a bit meaningless. And why should ISPs benefit. They can charge ”

NO case · Cathryn · 3 respects

83%
No
majority
17% Yes
Votes158
Skipped3
You—

% voting yes, by leaning

0% yes among H. Left voters, 6 of them
4% yes among Left voters, 24 of them
21% yes among C. Left voters, 19 of them
43% yes among Centre voters, 28 of them
25% yes among C. Right voters, 16 of them
4% yes among Right voters, 52 of them
31% yes among H. Right voters, 13 of them
H. Left
Left
C. Left
Centre
C. Right
Right
H. Right
Early result

This referendum settled before 29 September 2026, when refnation's current method began, so its result is a plain count of Yes and No, and it may include automated votes from refnation's launch period. It is kept here as an archive: refnation's record starts on 29 September 2026.

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4 Opinions

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Cathryn· 213
The Green Security Insurgent
Voted noLeft lean

I'm not sure what you mean by first hop ISP. Its an idea that draws from older internet technologies where companies sending mail had mail servers on premise. My company email goes out through Microsoft 365 and through an online marketing comms platform. So the first hop ISP is the one they use which in the case of Microsoft is a bit meaningless. And why should ISPs benefit. They can charge businesses for traffic if they want to.

MikeyN· 308
The Firestarter
Voted noLeft lean

Unworkable and would encourage cyber attacks.

Old_school_liberal· 787
The Peacemaker
Voted noC. Left lean

Good luck with that... Might sound flippant but in all honest if they do the current providers will just fall by the way side just like the royal mail has. There's just to many providers, with more popping up every day whole give free access to gain accounts.

Glasses· 912
The Command-and-Control Right
Voted noRight lean

Stop charging for everything!! If companies can allow free then what's the problem.