A parliamentary vote is where members of parliament either support or oppose a proposal. This is the way laws are made in countries which use a Westminster system. This includes most Commonwealth nations and countries which inherited the British political tradition.
In a Westminster system voters choose individual MPs at a general election. The party with the most seats forms a government led by their leader. When parties do not have a majority of the seats they usually form coalitions.
The House of Commons uses a first past the post voting system and has 650 members. The main UK political parties select candidates to represent them in their local constituencies, although independent candidates can also stand. Voters choose between two MPs for their local seat, with the candidate representing the political party they have chosen winning.
After the Speaker puts the question to MPs, if there is a challenge to the result the Speaker may call for a division. This means MPs will physically walk down one of two corridors outside the chamber – the “aye” or “no” lobby. The Presiding Officer asks those who want to vote aye to move to the right of the Chair and those who want to vote no to the left. Tellers (MPs who are told which side to vote for) are then appointed to count the votes in each lobby.
During the coronavirus pandemic and in the immediate aftermath, a temporary system was used in which MPs were allowed to vote remotely. However, this was a break with tradition and was only done because of the need for social distancing.