Nick Raynsford, the former construction minister, has told industry leaders that they risk derailing the Construction Act reform bill if they continue to argue over changes to it.

The warning came after Stephen Timms, the present construction minister, told a committee of MPs on Tuesday that a second consultation on the bill had been completed and he wanted to push through reforms.

Raynsford said the bill would contain a deal that had been struck last year between main and specialist contractors.

The deal followed a long argument over what changes should be made – particularly to the act’s payments rules.

He said: “This is the only package on offer. If people try to add in other points of their own interest then they will risk derailing the bill and doing the whole industry a huge disservice.”

Raynsford said there would be a bill in the course of the next year but that he understood that there was no possibility of getting it into the current legislative timetable.

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