Cross-party anger at Westminster’s ‘zombie Parliament’ was last night raging amid claims the Commons has virtually nothing to do before the General Election.

MPs vented their fury at Coalition Ministers for insisting on a fixed, five-year parliament when they ran out of ideas ‘six months ago’.

Labour said there was now so little legislation to discuss that Tory backbenchers were only expected to turn up at Westminster for barely a month between now and the Election on May 7.

MPs have vented their fury at Coalition Ministers for insisting on a fixed, five-year parliament amid claims the Commons has virtually no legislation to discuss before the General Election.

Even Conservative MPs are concerned. Tory MP Charles Walker, chairman of the Commons Procedure Committee, said: ‘There’s a natural rhythm to British politics that has served us well for decades and it’s a four-year rhythm. I’d prefer to do away with the whole idea of fixed terms.’

In a controversial move after the last General Election, the Tory/Liberal Democrat Coalition pushed through a new law that parliaments must last a full five years except in exceptional circumstances.

This was seen as an attempt by David Cameron and Nick Clegg to prevent rebel MPs voting with Labour to boot the fragile Coalition out of office.

But MPs across the political divide are now complaining that the fifth year has become one long ‘anteroom’ to the Election – with the Commons all but devoid of serious Government business to discuss.

In an article for The Mail on Sunday (see below) Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Jonathan Ashworth said the Coalition was presiding over a zombie Parliament with little sign of Government activity. Tory MPs, he said, had effectively been told to turn up for only 33 days between now and when Parliament is dissolved for the Election.

The fixed-term parliament law was pushed through by the Coalition after they came into power in 2010

Mr Ashworth stopped short of saying that a Labour government would scrap the five-year rule. But two other senior Shadow Ministers privately said that Parliament should sit for four years at most.

Labour backbench MP Kevin Barron called for a return to the rule where prime ministers were able to name the date of the Election, but no Parliament could sit for more than five years. The current situation at Westminster had led to a ‘paralysis of power’, he said.

No 10 last night denied the Coalition had run out of steam, saying it was making ‘good progress’ with its legislative programme of 18 Government Bills this parliamentary session.

122 days to go until the Election and we'll be at work for just 49, says Shadow Cabinet Office Minister JONATHAN ASHWORTH

Shadow Minister Jonathan Ashworth said the Coalition was presiding over a zombie Parliament

For the past two weeks or so, barely a mouse has stirred in the Palace of Westminster.

Apart from the traditional New Year’s Eve party on the Commons’ Terrace, the grand old building has been silent.

Which is how it should be.

Even MPs and peers like to celebrate Christmas with their families, away from the normal Punch and Judy knockabout of Westminster politics – especially with a General Election looming.

But with the Commons back to work tomorrow, you’d expect that there would be hardly so much as a day off between now and that appointment with the voters on May 7.

After all, we’ve just had two weeks off to recharge the batteries.

Surely now it’ll be full steam ahead, the place fizzing as David Cameron strains every sinew on every available day to get vital legislation through before Parliament breaks for the Election.

How wrong you’d be.

A glance at the official parliamentary calendar, set by the Coalition parties, reveals that there will, in fact, be many more days when the Commons is as quiet as Christmas – only this time without any justification.

With 122 days to go before polling day, MPs are scheduled to be sat on the famous Commons’ green benches for way under half that: a grand total of 49 days.

In practice, it’ll be even fewer after the inevitable extra breaks are added in at the last minute.

Why? Because the Tory/Liberal Democrat Coalition ran out of ideas months ago.

The paltry number of sitting days actually tells only half the story.

Even when MPs are physically at Westminster, there is precious little to do – aside from the work of backbench MPs or motions put forward by the Labour opposition. Official parliamentary records show that in the year or so up to June 2014, we had the lowest number of Government Bills since 1950.

With 122 days to go before polling day, MPs are scheduled to attend Westminster for just 49 days

Since last summer, there’ve been even fewer signs of activity from the Government benches – so few that Tory Chief Whip Michael Gove recently told his MPs not to bother coming in on Thursdays in future.

Take those out, and the Fridays they inevitably take off as well, and it won’t be 49 Commons’ days left for many Tories but 33 at best before Parliament is dissolved at the end of March.

Ministers may dismiss these criticisms as just partisan point-scoring from a Labour MP against a Tory-led government.

They’d be wrong. Even many Conservatives are privately embarrassed at how little they have to do at Westminster.

There are major national and global challenges that the Government should be addressing – assisted and enabled by parliamentary scrutiny.

Yes, there’s an Election coming and MPs of all colours will be itching to get out there campaigning.

But I, like so many of my fellow MPs, want to be part of an active, vibrant democratic process not a Zombie Parliament that just goes through the motions of being the cockpit of the nation.