George Eaton (journalist)

George Eaton is a British writer and journalist. He is the political editor of the New Statesman, a position he has held since June 2014.

Eaton studied History and Politics at the University of Warwick between 2005 and 2008, and has previously worked for PoliticsHome. He was brought in to the New Statesman by Jason Cowley as a staff writer and later edited the magazine's political blog The Staggers. Eaton has featured in debating panels on various news stations such as BBC News, Sky News and RT, discussing issues including health tourism and Scottish independence. In February 2015, he sat on a panel hosted by the PR company Fishburn at the Royal Society of Arts on the 2015 UK general election.

He is currently writing a biography of the mayor of London Sadiq Khan entitled Sadiq: The Making of a Mayor and London's Rebirth, forthcoming from Biteback Publishing.

Eaton is optimistic about Labour's chances of forming a government since the 2017 general election. Eaton wrote, " To achieve a majority of one (326), Labour now needs a modest swing of 3.57 per cent. (...) A hung parliament came as a surprise to most in Labour (including Corbyn allies) but at the next election the party can sets its sights higher. A potential majority coalition of socialists, liberal Remainers and conservative interventionists is emerging."

Eaton wrote that Britain has endured austerity, that British people are tired of austerity and discontent over austerity was a factor in the Conservatives losing their overall majority. For example Eaton wrote, "Departmental budgets have been cut by an average of more than 20 per cent since 2010 (the Department for Communities and Local Government by more than 50 per cent) and more than £20bn of welfare cuts have been imposed (child benefit, for instance, is worth less than it was 17 years ago). (...) Nor is the end in sight. Over the next five years, day-to-day departmental spending is set to fall by 5.7 per cent per capita (though the election result may force a revision). Public spending as a share of GDP will tumble from 40 per cent to 37.9 per cent, well below the EU average and close to the US's 36 per cent. As Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies has correctly noted, such cuts are "unprecedented" in recent history." Eaton also wrote, "There was no imperative for the UK to pursue austerity at the pace it did, or to split the balance so unequally between cuts and tax rises."

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