Votes and decisions
Votes and decisions
Parliament votes on many different questions. Some votes affect Bills, some approve regulations, some express political pressure, and some decide how parliamentary business should be handled.
This page explains the main types of parliamentary vote and links to guides on interpreting the result.
What can a vote decide?
The same Aye/No format can be used for very different parliamentary questions.
Bill stage vote
Decides whether a Bill can progress, be changed or pass a particular stage.
Lords amendment vote
Decides whether the Commons agrees with changes proposed by the House of Lords.
Statutory instrument
Approves or rejects delegated legislation, such as regulations, orders or rules.
Opposition Day motion
Decides a motion chosen by an opposition party for debate in the Commons.
Procedural motion
Decides how parliamentary business, debate or timing should be handled.
Privilege motion
Concerns the rights, conduct or privileges of MPs or the House itself.
Start here
Use these guides to identify a vote type, read a vote result, understand votes during a Bill’s Commons stages, follow Commons decisions on Lords amendments, and interpret votes on statutory instruments.
What kind of vote is this?
Use clues in the motion or vote title to identify what Parliament was deciding.
Read guide →How to understand a vote result
Learn what Ayes, Noes, majority, division number and party breakdowns mean.
Read guide →How Lords amendment votes work
Understand how MPs consider changes made by the House of Lords.
Read guide →How statutory instrument votes work
Understand how Parliament approves or rejects statutory instruments.
Read guide →How bill stage votes work
A step-by-step look at votes during a Bill’s progress through Parliament.
Read guide →How this connects to Project Open Gov
The live Votes feature combines the result with a vote-type label, the selected division, Ayes and Noes, the majority and the total votes shown for that division. The official motion and source links provide the context behind those figures.
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Official sources
Use these sources to check the original material and recorded votes.