Tory MP Peter Aldous was due to deliver the Bill’s second reading tomorrow but now the process has been put back to 15 June.

The change comes after concern that tomorrow’s crowded parliamentary schedule risked it not being read and abandoned by parliament.

Aldous is seeking to amend the 1996 Construction Act and ensure that retentions are held in a third party trust scheme.

There is a now strong groundswell for reform in both parliament and the industry.

In recent weeks political support for holding cash retentions in trust has soared to over 120 MPs in favour of ring-fencing subcontractors’ money. Cross-party support for reform includes Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, SNP, DUP, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party.

And earlier this week a delegation representing 76 specialist trade bodies – representing over 355,000 companies and many self-employed professionals – petitioned the Prime Minister for urgent reform to payment practices and the retention system.

Aldous said: “The industry loses around £1m for each working day, mostly from SMEs. There have been proposals to stop the abuse of retentions before, but this time there is the largest coalition on fair payments ever.”