Chloe Smith: “There’s only one way out of the crisis, and that’s cuts in public spending”

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

New Tory MP for Norwich North has started as she means to go on. In an article for ConservativeHome, she says:

“There’s only one way out of this debt crisis, and that’s cuts in public spending.”

That’s not the way the White House sees it, and that’s not how the leaders of the 20 most powerful countries in the world saw it at the G20.

She continues that she will be:

“straight with people – straight about the problems this country faces, and straight about the difficult decisions that need to be made to put them right.”

But she gives no indication of where those cuts will be made, or to which public services, or which people they might affect in terms of falls in police numbers, teachers or social services.

I initially thought Chloe Smith might be an independent-minded young Tory, with a rigorous and compassionate approach to policy, but already it seems she’s been whipped into toeing the line.