The opponents will today put forward an amendment stipulating the government should review the impact of the Enterprise bill after three years, according to the Financial Times. The bill is currently going through its third Commons reading.

Previously, the Tories were calling for a minimum bankruptcy period of one year. Before the bill the minimum penalty had been three years, but now has been reduced to a just few months for 'non culpable' bankrupts.

Industry is also increasing its attempts to remove smaller companies from the new merger clearance regime.

But the government, which has already accepted 34 amendments to the bill, is resisting further changes and is under pressure after a series of defeats in the Lords