The House follows a structured process for debating and making decisions. Each item of business is framed as a question that is “put” by the person chairing the debate (usually the Speaker). Debate takes place in stages, and mechanisms like closure and time allocation limit length, so that decisions can be made quickly.
At the end of a debate, if there is a division on a particular question, MPs will vote by physically walking down corridors on either side of the main chamber: the ‘aye’ lobby and the ‘no’ lobby. The Speaker announces a division by shouting “clear the lobby” – and a system of bells rings around the parliamentary estate so that MPs who are out of the chamber or other parliamentary buildings can be told to make their way into the appropriate lobby. MPs have 10 minutes to make it into the lobbies for their vote to be counted.
In the United Kingdom, political parties elect their own members to Parliament and the party with the most elected members forms the Government. The leader of the winning political party becomes Prime Minister and chooses who takes other senior positions in the UK Government, such as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary.
Many countries, including Australia and Papua New Guinea, use a Westminster model and, like the UK, employ a system of plurality voting. These parliaments tend to have a more adversarial style of debate and the plenary session is considered more important than committees.