TORIES in West Devon claim Liberal Democrat MP John Burnett is not participating in enough votes at Westminster.
They say House of Commons figures show Mr Burnett was ranked 606th out of 655 listed MPs, having participated in 45 per cent of parliamentary votes held in the last year — fewer than other MPs in Devon and Cornwall.
Neighbouring Liberal Democrat colleagues in North Cornwall, Paul Tyler, and North Devon, Nick Harvey, both voted more often than him, say the Tories.
Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for West Devon and Torridge Geoffrey Cox said: 'It does count how often an MP turns up to speak and debate in the House.
'In times past the excuse was that the MP was hard at work in the constituency — well it would be interesting to hear Mr Burnett claim he does a better job in our constituency compared with Mr Tyler or Mr Harvey in theirs.'
But Liberal Democrat constituency chairman Dr Judy Evans hit back at the Tories, saying the figures were taken from June 2001 to May 2002 during the foot and mouth catastrophe and its 'terrible aftermath'.
She said: 'Our constituency was by far the worst affected in the West Country.
'Unfortunately, John cannot be in two places at the same time and, as readers will know, he devotes an enormous amount of time to his constituency work.
'The calls for him to be here during this particular time were rightly compelling.'
The figures for participation of MPs in both normal and deferred votes in the House 2001-02 session up to May 24, 2002, were compiled by the House of Commons Library.