LATE PAYMENT

That this House condemns the continued late payment of commercial debts; notes that the Government 1994 White Paper commitment to pursue exclusively non-statutory measures for a two year period expires in June 1996; notes the negative impact which late payment continues to have on the growth and job creation potential of smaller businesses in particular; recognises the importance of the small firms sector to the United Kingdom economy; and, believing that non statutory measures cannot be effective on their own, calls for the implementation at the earliest possible opportunity of a statutory right to interest on overdue commercial debts.