{"id":12116,"date":"2017-04-13T15:35:54","date_gmt":"2017-04-13T14:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=12116"},"modified":"2017-04-13T15:35:54","modified_gmt":"2017-04-13T14:35:54","slug":"war-late-payments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=12116","title":{"rendered":"War on late payments"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jeremy Corbyn said on Tuesday (April 11) that a Labour government would \u00e2\u20ac\u015bdeclare war\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 on the late payment of invoices, describing the issue as a \u00c2\u014126bn \u00e2\u20ac\u015bnational scandal\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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The Labour leader said companies who are persistently late in paying their bills will be fined and accused big businesses of being the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bworst culprits\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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In a speech to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), he said late payments are responsible for the closure 50,000 small companies every year and promised to name and shame large companies who engage in the practise.<\/p>\n

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Corbyn said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bCash is king for any business, and big companies are managing their cash by borrowing \u00e2\u20ac\u201c interest free \u00e2\u20ac\u201c from their suppliers.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSome of the biggest names in business are holding cash piles that don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually belong to them. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a national scandal. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stopping businesses from growing and causing thousands to go bust every year. It kills jobs and holds back economic growth.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Corbyn accused a number of blue-chip firms, including Capita, E.ON, BT Group, Marks & Spencer, Vodafone and National Grid, of regularly not paying their invoices on time.<\/p>\n

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After the speech a number of the firms refuted his accusations.<\/p>\n

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A Labour government would tackle the problem by requiring any company that bids for a public sector contract to demonstrate that it pays suppliers within 30 days, Corbyn told the FSB.<\/p>\n

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He said that Labour would also consider introducing \u00e2\u20ac\u015ba system of binding arbitration\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 so that companies that repeatedly pay late would be fined.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe will support those striving to make a living through self-employment and in small businesses,” he noted.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNot just because it is the right and fair thing to do, but because millions of jobs and the future of our country depends on it.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Corbyn also pledged to keep tax rates for small businesses as they are and said that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bany tax rises will fall on the broadest shoulders\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, as well as mentioning Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plan for a national investment bank and national lifelong learning service.<\/p>\n

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Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bLarge companies should not be keeping smaller suppliers waiting inordinate amounts of time to receive payment.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an issue that often cripples firms who would often be healthy and productive businesses otherwise. The knock on effects on jobs and the wider economy can be disastrous.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis kind of behaviour, along with firms forcing people into bogus self-employment in order to dodge employment legislation and the payment of taxes, is making the UK increasingly unequal.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Turner added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe need a government that tackles unfairness head on and invests in an equitable and sustainable economy, rather than one that presides over predatory business practises that make money by riding roughshod over everyone else.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jeremy Corbyn said on Tuesday (April 11) that a Labour government would \u00e2\u20ac\u015bdeclare war\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 on the late payment of invoices, describing the issue as a \u00c2\u014126bn \u00e2\u20ac\u015bnational scandal\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.   The Labour leader said companies who are persistently late in paying their bills will be fined and accused big businesses of being the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bworst culprits\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.   […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[725,360,210],"wps_subtitle":"Labour attacks big business 'national scandal'","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12116"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12116"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12117,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12116\/revisions\/12117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}