MPs are holding votes at the slowest rate in decades as the Government is paralysed by fear Theresa May will suffer a humiliating defeat, new analysis shows.
The PM lost her majority in the Tory General Election disaster leaving her reliant on the DUP to prop her up with a tiny working majority of just 13 votes.
Fears that she does not have the support in the Commons to pass domestic reforms and to win crucial Brexit votes has left the Commons paralysed.
Theresa May has held fewer parliamentary votes in the nine months after her June election disaster than David Cameron or Tony Blair after any of their elections.
Theresa May has held fewer parliamentary votes in the nine months after her June election disaster than David Cameron or Tony Blair after any of their elections
Under Mrs May, MPs have voted 127 times on 40 separate days – meaning they have gone though the division lobbies on just a third of the days on which the Commons has sat.
This is lower than when the Tories entered a Coalition with the Lib Dems in 2010 or after they clinched a majority in 2015.
And it is more sluggish than in the nine months after any of Labour’s victories following their 1997 landslide, according to the analysis by The Times.
Mrs May has faced a barrage of criticism for failing to come up with a domestic reform agenda since becoming PM.
After her election humiliation in June – when the Tories saw their majority wiped out – she has ditched many of the reforms she had promised.
Her pledge to hold a free vote on fox hunting, to bring in a new generation of grammar schools and to lift the triple lock on pensions were all ditched.
And crucial votes on legislation for a post-Brexit customs rules as well as the multibillion-pound restoration of Parliament has been repeatedly delayed amid fears the PM would suffer humiliating defeats that could derail her premiership.
Mrs May is being propped up in No10 by the DUP and with their support has a wafer thin majority of just 13.
This has left her highly vulnerable to backbench rebellions and unwilling to steer through legislation which could spark any amount of controversy.
Under Mrs May, MPs have voted 127 times on 40 separate days – meaning they have gone though the division lobbies on just a third of the days on which the Commons has sat. This is lower than under David Cameron or Toy Blair (file pics)
Her aides and party whips fear that a Commons defeat on a major piece of legislation could topple her as leader and spark fresh infighting at the top of the Tory Party.
The Tories have also stopped voting in opposition day debates – symbolic votes on matters of policy called by the opposition – as they want to save their whipping for only binding votes.
Many Tory MPs have urged the PM to come up with a more radical domestic agenda to win back voters.
They have warned that unless the Tories do more to tackle the housing crisis and boost schools and hospitals then voters will continue to desert them.
But stuck between trying to negotiate Brexit and fearing a Commons defeat, the Tories have introduced little meaningful legislation.
Valerie Vaz, Labour’s shadow leader of the Commons, told the paper: ‘This is governmentlite, a no-to-business government running out of ideas and running scared.’