The Government is facing fierce backlash from small business owners who are fed up with being called the 'backbone of the economy' as they are clobbered with higher taxes and labour costs.

It came as Keir Starmer today used the phrase as he unveiled the late payments bill to Parliament, which will force large companies to pay small suppliers within 60 days and hand the small business commissioner new enforcement powers.

But business owners say Starmer's assurance that 'the Government is firmly on their side' shows they are not being listened to.

Ben Perks, managing director at Orchard Financial Advisers told Newspage: 'A man without a backbone, complimenting ours.

'It baffles me that the Prime Minister can praise small businesses, whilst doing absolutely nothing to help and support them.'

Oli Garnett, co-founder of design agency Something Familiar added: 'Small businesses are the backbone of the economy' is one of those phrases politicians wheel out right before making life even harder for them. At this point the backbone's slipped a disc.'

Meanwhile, Paul Denley, chief executive of Oakham Wealth Management said that 'the frustration is not the phrase itself, but the gap between rhetoric and reality. 

'The problem is that Britain increasingly seems to be developing chronic back pain: overloading small businesses with tax, regulation, rising costs and administrative burdens'.

The Prime Minister said the new bill will ensure businesses are paid the money they're owed because 'the cost is personal… it's about whether you can pay your staff, keep the lights on, or invest in your future.'

But small businesses have persistently raised the alarm over rising regulation, and mounting tax and energy bills.

Adam Stiles, managing director at Helix Financial Partners said the Government is 'taking the tax equivalent of a cricket bat' to small firms. 

'I have never known any government more anti-business in my lifetime,' he said. 

Denley added: 'Economic growth follows when you create conditions where smaller, ambitious businesses can scale faster, hire more and take risks with confidence. Britain does not lack entrepreneurial talent. Too often it lacks an environment that rewards it.'

Figures published today show the unemployment rate rose to 5 per cent in the three months to March, with job vacancies falling to a five-year low between February and March.  

Perks blamed the Government, which has made hiring people 'expensive and unattractive'.

Business secretary Peter Kyle told the Mail that the issue of late payments 'is something that simply hasn't had the light shone on it,' but business owners remain unconvinced the new bill will turn the dial.

Garnett said: 'We've all heard this before… The bill sounds promising but forgive us for not popping champagne until we see an actual corporate finance team panic for once.'