Europe overshadows Conservative agenda
Updated on 05 October 2009
As the Conservative party conference begins, David Cameron is urged to promise a referendum on the Lisbon treaty - despite wanting to talk about reforming benefits.
As the Conservative party conference began today, there was further pressure on party leader David Cameron to promise a referendum on the Lisbon treaty.
The Tory leader wants to talk about his plans for a welfare shake-up, but Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, said voters could be given a say on "key parts" of the treaty, even if it had been ratified before the next election.
Benefit cut pledge
More than half a million benefit claimants could have their state help cut by £25 a week to pay for Tory plans to get people back into work, the party said today.
Every one of the 2.6 million people claiming incapacity benefit will be tested to see whether they really are too ill to work, with studies suggesting up to a fifth will be found fit enough to have a job.
Switching them to Jobseeker's Allowance would, the party has calculated, pay the £600m upfront costs of a massive welfare shake-up which will see far more private firms paid for getting people back into jobs.
Party leader David Cameron said the "tough and difficult" choice to subject all claimants to tests, even those who were clearly not able to work, was needed to stem the rising tide of recession-fuelled unemployment.
The shake-up, which Mr Cameron said would make the Tories "the party of jobs and opportunities" has been made the centrepiece of the party's annual conference in Manchester.
But he is already facing a battle to prevent it being overshadowed after the Irish "yes" vote to the Lisbon Treaty reopened questions over his promise of a UK referendum on the issue.
Mr Cameron would not say whether he would meet eurosceptics' demands to hold a public vote even if all EU states had ratified the treaty by the time of the next general election.
Labour has also proposed a system of "work tests" for claimants - and carried out a pilot study which was used to calculate the Conservatives' costings.
But the Opposition say Gordon Brown's government has shown no will to implement the policy and has not included the potential savings in the Budget.
Mr Cameron said that the extra cash would pay for speeding up help for young people finding a job and to enable a "much more aggressive" use of the private and voluntary sector. Rules will be changed to allow payment by results with anticipated savings from welfare bills available up front to get people jobs in the first place.
On Thursday the Channel 4 News website will be providing extended live coverage of David Cameron's speech to the Conservative conference, including film extracts, expert analysis and Twitter commentary.
To watch and contribute, go to www.channel4.com/news from midday on 8 October.
