The British Conservative Party leader David Cameron has unveiled what he said was “the biggest, boldest programme to get Britain working that this country has ever seen”.
The package of policies to beat what the Conservative leader called “a jobs crisis” included a new promise to waive employer national insurance on the first 10 employees of any new business created within the first two years of a Tory government, which shadow chancellor George Osborne said could create 60,000 jobs.
Other announcements included a chain of technical schools in England’s biggest cities, 10,000 extra university places and a check-up on every Incapacity Benefit claimant to see whether they are really unfit to work.
The announcements came against a continued backdrop of internal disagreement over Europe, with London Mayor Boris Johnson and right-wing MP Andrew Rosindell both suggesting that there could be a referendum even if the EU’s Lisbon Treaty is ratified by all 27 member states by the time a Conservative government comes to power.
Mr Cameron has promised a referendum only if one or more EU state has not ratified. Foreign Secretary David Miliband today put pressure on him to spell out what he means when he said that he will not “let matters rest” if ratification is complete.
The Tory leader did not address the European issue in a brief speech to the party conference in Manchester to launch his Get Britain Working package.
Instead, he sought to seize control of issues traditionally seen as Labour’s home territory, telling activists the Conservatives must be “not just the party of the NHS, not just the party of the environment but the party of jobs and enterprise here in Britain in 2009”.
Mr Cameron warned his party against complacency and said they needed a convincing win to be able to make the hard choices the country required.
“Some people said to me: just come to Manchester, keep your head down and let
Labour lose the next election. My friends, let this be the week when we don’t just let Labour lose the election but we show we deserve to go out and win it.
“Not just because we cannot afford to be complacent; not just because, as you have been told, to win the next election we have to win more seats at one election than we have done at any time in the last 70 years.
“No, but because of this: because the problems this country faces are so severe, the crisis of our public finances so deep, that we need a strong and positive mandate for the changes we know our country needs and we know people are crying out for.
“This is not some week of celebration, not some week of pointing out Labour’s failures. It is the week we should square up and look at the British people in the eyes and say: we know how deep the problems are; we know how difficult some of the solutions will be; but we are ready, together with you, to take this country through some tough times but to better days ahead.”
He told activists: “With that, let us go to work.