The Yorkshire Post says: One year after the election, Theresa May must lead '“ and not be led

Yet, while it’s testament to the resilience of the Prime Minister that she’s survived the past year since losing her Commons majority on this day 12 months ago, it’s hardly a ringing vote of confidence in her abilities.

Mrs May effectively remains in place because she’s still the ‘least worst’ option. The Tory party does not appear to have a feasible alternative leader and only the possibility of a hard-left socialist government headed by Jeremy Corbyn has prevented its total implosion.

However, while there have been occasions when Mrs May has risen to the challenge and showed the leadership expected of her, she increasingly finds herself at the mercy of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party – the DUP’s opposition to the relaxation of abortion laws will test this Parliamentary alliance to the limit – and her own party’s warring factions over Brexit.

Even though Mr Davis, the Haltemprice and Howden MP, remains as Brexit Secretary for now after a tentative form of words was agreed, the very fact that the Government has not published its White Paper on Britain’s planned exit from the EU next March is indicative of the Cabinet civil war now being waged ahead of a crucial set of Commons votes next week on customs arrangements.

As Britain’s chief negotiator, he believes he was kept in the dark by Mrs May’s advocacy of a so-called ‘backstop’ to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and how this may have emboldened those EU chiefs who are intent on thwarting the UK government at every turn.

Coming almost 10 years to the day after Mr Davis resigned as Shadow Home Secretary following a clash with David Cameron, the then Opposition leader, over civil liberties, it can only be assumed Mrs May blinked first in the latest Downing Street showdown, and agreed that it should be time-limited, before she headed off to the G7 summit in Canada.

And, just like the election aftermath, it begs the question – who is running Britain? – as the Government becomes paralysed by Brexit and at the mercy of the DUP, and others, if it wants to initiate domestic policy reforms.

Like the Ministers themselves, this country has gorged itself on political fudge for too long. And while Shipley MP Philip Davies attracted mirth when he asked yesterday for a debate on how out of touch the House of Commons is with “public opinion”, his sentiment struck a chord.

Not only does this region want social mobility reforms accelerated and the NHS put on a sustainable financial footing amid new claims that 600 GP surgeries across England are threatened with closure, but commuters here are incandescent with the Government’s lackadaisical response to the Northern Rail crisis.

Here was an opportunity for Mrs May – and her top team – to show that they were on the side of the Northern Powerhouse by responding favourably to the unprecedented joint call by The Yorkshire Post, and newspapers across the region, to get a grip of the region’s railways.

The fact that the PM and her advisers have not done so is, frankly, symptomatic of the inaction and inertia of the past 12 months which has seen Theresa May survive – and achieve little else – at a pivotal moment when the country needed a Prime Minister who can lead rather than be led.