OLDHAM East and Saddleworth MP Debbie Abrahams has said the Chancellor’s announcement that companies will have to publish their payment practices is “too little, too late”.

Ms Abrahams pointed out she first suggested the move in her own all-party parliamentary inquiry in 2013.

Philip Hammond made the announcement that companies would have to publish their payment practices in their annual report in his Spring Statement this week.

Ms Abrahams, who created the award winning late payments campaign, Be Fair - Pay on Time, in 2012, said: “The idea of publishing payment performance was the number one recommendation of the all-party parliamentary inquiry I chaired way back in 2013 but the government have done nothing to act on the findings for all these years.”

Ms Abrahams, who has introduced a 10-minute rule bill promoting the use of Project Bank Accounts to protect small business suppliers from late payments, and the collapse of large companies like Carillion and Interserve, added: “I’m deeply frustrated that the Government ignored the evidence from my inquiry for so long.

“If they had acted more quickly and implemented the recommendations from my inquiry and my bill, tens of thousands of small businesses would have been protected from these collapses and the scourge of late payments.

“The speed at which they’ve acted is unacceptable and I’ll be keeping the pressure up on them to push these promised changes through quickly. They should also take note of the other recommendations in my inquiry if they are really serious about stamping out late payment practices across all business sectors.”

Ms Abrahams’ all-party inquiry, which took evidence from economists, large building companies, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), the Forum of Private Business (FPB), academics, and the owners of small companies affected by late payments can be seen at: https://www.fsb.org.uk/docs/default-source/fsb-org-uk/uploads/manchester-and-north-cheshire/late-payment-enquiry-report.pdf?sfvrsn=0&sfvrsn=0