Jeremy Corbyn 'declares war' on big businesses over late payments

The Labour leader has declared war on big businesses that lumber small firms with debts because of late payments.

London’s small and medium sized businesses are currently owed £5 billion by other companies.

Jeremy Corbyn called the culture of late payments a “national scandal” and at the Federation of Small Businesses’ conference tomorrow he will tell how his party would introduce a new fines regime in the private sector and a 30-day cut-off point for invoices.

Mr Corbyn said: “Cash is king for any business and big companies are managing their cash by borrowing interest-free from suppliers.

“Some of the biggest names in business are holding cash piles that don’t actually belong to them.

“It’s a national scandal, it is stopping businesses from growing and it causes thousands to go bust every year.

“It kills jobs and holds back economic growth.”

Nearly half of London’s one million small businesses last year had to wait for bigger firms to pay invoices beyond agreed fixed terms. Most payments should be made in 30 to 60 days.

The average debt is £32,185, figures show.

Statistics released by Labour today also reveal 160,000 small firms were forced to pay their own suppliers late because of delayed payments and 63,222 were unable to pay staff on time.