The council took the step of promoting a private bill which would have given it tough powers to give unscrupulous pedlars on-the-spot fines and allow council officers to seize and confiscate shoddy or counterfeit goods.

However, during its second reading Tory backbenchers blocked it. It will be considered again on Thursday but one Leeds MP thought it was now "dead in the water".

Leeds Tory group leader Andrew Coun Carter said: "We believed there are some powers within this Bill which would have helped us better regulate street trading.

"Having lots of events in the city adds to the atmosphere and we often have street traders at them but sometimes they peddle goods which can only be described as a bit shoddy.

"We don't want young people getting conned."

Pedlars have to pay councils around £12 for a licence but are expected to move on every twenty minutes. In contrast, a licence for a fixed street trading stall can cost between £500 and £700.

Supporting the Bill during the Commons debate, Pudsey Labour MP Paul Truswell spoke of a constituent whose Leeds city centre flower shop was almost forced out of business by a pedlar who refused to move his nearby flower stall.

He said: "My constituent calculated he lost about 40 per cent of what his takings had been before the pedlar began that illegal action, much of that trade having taken place in the run-up to Christmas and around Valentine's Day and Mothers' Day."

Leeds West Labour MP John Battle pointed out that once a pedlar had obtained his licence he could trade anywhere in the country.

The Leeds Bill was debated alongside five identical Bills which would have handed the same powers to councils in Manchester, Bournemouth, Canterbury, Nottingham and Reading.

However, Christchurch Conservative MP Christopher Chope opposed the Bournemouth Bill and – with help from other Tory backbenchers – effectively blocked the six pieces of legislation.

The blocking of the Bill by Conservative MPs is embarrassing for top Tory councillors, who control Leeds alongside the Lib Dems.

It was claimed that the Bills are likely to have cost each local authority £100,000.

Coun Carter admitted that the opposition in Parliament was "frustrating and slightly annoying" but he said he would be "very surprised" if the parliamentary bid had cost £100,000.