ONE of the area’s MPs has again pressed the Government to shorten the time small and medium businesses often have to wait to be paid by larger firms.

During questions to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in the House of Commons, Alex Cunningham, MP for Stockton North, asked for businesses to have similar rights to consumers.

He said the prompt payment code lacked the bite to enforce payment timeframes, and companies often simply extended their terms in order to comply.

“Is it not time for the Government to intervene to put an end to these disgraceful delays and give small organisations a better chance of survival?” he said.

In response, the Department gave details of a short consultation on building a responsible payment culture and sought views on what unfair payment terms look like and legislative or non-legislative measures to tackle them.

Mr Cunningham said: “While it is positive that the Government is at last recognising the serious obstacles SMEs are facing in securing timely payments from large companies, action needs to be taken quickly to ensure that smaller businesses are not left footing the bill.

“I look forward to hearing the Government’s response to the consultation, and hope to see meaningful actions to correct this imbalance of power to ensure that SMEs no longer face an uphill struggle to a fair and level playing field.”