SMALL FIRMS TAX BREAK BY TORIES; ... and Treaty debate rumbles on.

Byline: EXAMINER

THE Conservatives announced tax breaks worth pounds 250 million to new businesses, as the party's leadership sought to put a lid on internal discontent over Europe at their annual conference in Manchester.

Shadow chancellor George Osborne said that waiving the 12.8% employers' National Insurance contribution for the first 10 employees taken on by a newly-established firm could create 60,000 jobs in the first two years of a Tory Government.

The measure formed a centrepiece of a jobs package which leader David Cameron described as "the biggest, boldest programme to get Britain working that this country has ever seen".

In a surprise appearance on-stage on the first day of the Tories' last conference before a general election, Mr Cameron urged activists to "go out and win it", telling them: "We must not let Britain down."

But the flurry of announcements could not drown out the debate over Europe on the fringes of the Manchester gathering in the wake of Ireland's Yes vote on the Lisbon Treaty.

Europhile shadow business secretary Kenneth Clarke was forced to put out a statement ruling out the prospect of him campaigning for ratification of the Lisbon as a member of a Tory Government, after he appeared to suggest that he would consider fighting for the Yes camp.

And London Mayor Boris Johnson increased Mr Cameron's discomfort by openly speculating that a Tory administration could give voters a say on "key parts" of the treaty if it was already in place.

The Tory leader has promised a referendum if any of the EU's 27 member states have not ratified Lisbon by the time the Conservatives win power.

CAPTION(S):

EUROPHILE: Ken Clarke