How does a debate work in Parliament?
There are various kinds of debate so you might want to phrase your question more clearly. Basically though debates are about something. MP’s will debate either a proposed new law, called a Bill while in discussion, or a motion which expresses the opinion of the House on a particular subject. A motion can be moved by either the Government or the Opposition, the classic example of a motion is the no-confidence vote “This House has no confidence in the Government”. If a Government loses the vote it has to resign. A Bill is usually moved by the Government although sometimes individual MP’s can move them too. The debate around a motion usually takes the form of the leader of the party proposing it making a speech. If it is a government motion the Leader of the Opposition makes a detailed reply. After that individual members and the leaders of the smaller parties get to make speeches usually shorter than the first two. After an agreed period of time a senior frontbench figure from one side w
