This weekend we celebrate Small Business Saturday. As well as Shadow Business Secretary visits to businesses across Greater Manchester, I’ll be popping into the lovely Lymefield Garden Centre and tea rooms in Broadbottom for our annual trip to pick up a Christmas tree.

Valued local businesses like this can only survive is they receive the cash they are owed on time. That’s why I’m pushing for tougher action on late payments to small businesses. Currently, 3 in 5 SMEs are waiting on money which is tied up in unpaid invoices, costing small and micro business owners across the UK an estimated £684 million a year. This is often the difference between survival and doing under.

Even for businesses not on the brink, this represents a drag on productivity and growth, because businesses are waiting for cash that could be invested in new employers, on training, or expansion.

Labour would introduce legislation to require big businesses to report on their company’s payment practices in their annual reports. This measure will require audit committees to report on late payments, making boards more accountable, a moved welcomed by the Federation of Small Businesses. A Labour government will ensure economic stability, higher skills, and green growth. However, we also expect big businesses to play their part, and this means improving the culture of late payments.

Neither Rishi Sunak nor the endless revolving door of Tory Prime Ministers before him have offered any decent support for small businesses. It’s time for that to change.

Meanwhile, major regeneration is about to begin in Hyde. Tameside Council have engaged GL Hearn and Hemmingway Design – two major names in regeneration – to produce the new masterplan for Hyde Town centre.

I want this to be one of the most significant moments in Hyde’s history, but the changes must reflect what local people want and need. So I’m asking every Hyde resident (and those from neighbouring towns and villages) to complete the online survey: http://www.thinkhydetowncentre.co.uk/

I want to see real proposals to come out of this process, and I’m excited that the timescale to get things moving sounds ambitious.

Keeping our town centres thriving is a significant challenge in a digital age, but it is so important to our sense of pride in place, as well as to the small businesses we want to see thrive. I’m committed to strong town centres in Stalybridge, Hyde and Mossley, providing quality shopping and leisure spaces to their own communities and well beyond.

If you’re a small business owner or town team volunteer, heartfelt thanks for all you bring to our area.