Austerity? What austerity? Rising Tory MP says Osborne hasn't done enough to bring down public spending

An outspoken Tory MP risks a backlash from families in financial crisis and the Government after suggesting the Chancellor has done little to bring down public spending.
Douglas Carswell, MP for Clacton, claimed: 'There has been no austerity at all! No austerity,' during an interview.
The MP, who was educated at the £30,000-a-year Charterhouse School, added: 'George Osborne has talked about austerity, what austerity?
'In the second and third quarter of this year, the deficit has gone up by 20 per cent. We’re due to reduce it by 5 per cent this year, that figure is for the birds!'
Mr Carswell, 41, made the comments during an interview with business website London Loves Business, to promote his new book ‘The End of Politics and the birth of iDemocracy’ in which he claims that ‘big government’ is becoming outdated with the rise of technology.

Making enemies in high places? Mr Carswell risks a backlash after suggesting George Osborne has done little to bring down public spending

In the interview he criticised the Government saying: 'They just don’t get it' and made a swipe at the Prime Minister’s ‘Big Society’ project, calling it a 'passing fad.'
Asked whether his personal economic manifesto amounted to a version of the Big Society he replied: 'I’m glad you know what the Big Society was all about, I didn’t. I hope this book, unlike the big society, is thought through. I hope it’s coherent.'
The interview is likely to be seen as further evidence of a major rift within the Conservative party following several reports of plots to oust the Prime Minister.
Outlining his theory about economic recovery, Mr Carswell said: 'I don’t think this government is even on the right page when it comes to this.'
He added: 'If we leave it to politicians and officialdom to improve our lives
and fix our country’s problems, we’re going to sink deeper into debt
and deeper into the mire.'
Mr Carswell, a leading eurosceptic, was first elected MP for Harwich in
2005 before winning a second term in the new seat of Clacton in the
2010 election.
It is not the first time the outspoken backbencher has risked embarrassing his own party.
Earlier this year he came to blows with David Cameron during Question
Time in the Commons. Mr Cameron told him to get a 'sense of humour' after he asked whether Downing Street was like the TV show Yes Minister.