Rachael Maskell‎

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Rachael Maskell

| image = Official portrait of Rachael Maskell MP crop 2, 2024.jpg

| caption = Official portrait, 2024

| honorific-suffix = MP

| office = Member of Parliament
for York Central

| term_start = 7 May 2015

| predecessor = Hugh Bayley

| majority = 19,154 (44.1%)

| title1 = Shadow cabinet portfolios

| suboffice1 = Shadow Secretary of State for Employment Rights

| subterm1 = 2020–2020

| suboffice2 = Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

| subterm2 = 2016–2017

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1972|7|5|df=y}}

| birth_place = Winchester, Hampshire, England

| party = Labour Co-op

| otherparty =

| alma_mater = University of East Anglia (BSc)

| website = {{URL|https://www.rachaelmaskell.com|Official website}}

}}

Rachael Helen Maskell (born 5 July 1972) is a British Labour and Co-operative politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for York Central since 2015. She was Shadow Environment Secretary from 2016 to 2017 and Shadow Employment Secretary in 2020.

Early life and career

Rachael Maskell was born in Winchester, and was brought up in Highcliffe-on-Sea.{{cite web|title=Rachael Maskell|url=https://www.aslef.org.uk/visageimages/Publications/2018/1801_aslef_journal_final.pdf|website=ASLEF|access-date=21 July 2020|date=January 2018}} She was influenced to take an interest in politics by her uncle Terence Morris, a close associate of Louis Blom-Cooper, who was a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the London School of Economics. Morris had campaigned for the abolition of the death penalty, in addition to serving as an advisor to the Wilson government and as an academic.{{cite web|title=Interview with Rachael Maskell|url=http://www.theyorker.co.uk/comment-and-politics/interview-with-rachael-maskell/|work=The Yorker|date=26 April 2015|access-date=28 November 2016}}

Maskell graduated from the University of East Anglia with a degree in physiotherapy in 1994.{{cite web|title=Physio heads for Westminster as victorious MP|url=http://www.csp.org.uk/news/2015/05/08/physio-heads-westminster-victorious-mp|website=Chartered Society of Physiotherapy|access-date=8 May 2015}} She worked as a care-worker and physiotherapist in the National Health Service for 20 years in Norwich and the London Borough of Barnet. Maskell has also been a trade-union official.{{cite web | last = Mitchell | first = Jasmine |title=Rising through ranks progressive agenda |url= https://www1.dehavilland.co.uk/insight-blog/rising-through-ranks-progressive-agenda |website= dehavilland.co.uk | publisher =DeHavilland | date = 25 September 2015 |access-date=12 October 2015}}{{cite web|title=Five Party Politics|url=http://changeopinion.com/media/fivepartypolitics.pdf|website=Change Opinion|access-date=12 October 2015}}

In 2006, Maskell stood as a Labour candidate for the Blackheath ward in Lewisham, south east London, but was unsuccessful.{{cite web |last=Teale |first=Andrew |title=2006 – Lewisham |url=https://www.andrewteale.me.uk/leap/results/2006/27/ |access-date=13 July 2022 |website=Local Elections Archive Project}}

Parliamentary career

= 1st term (2015–2017) =

At the 2015 general election, Maskell was elected to Parliament as MP for York Central with 42.4% of the vote and a majority of 6,716.{{cite web |title=Election Data 2015 |url=http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/electdata_2015.txt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017112223/http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/electdata_2015.txt |archive-date=17 October 2015 |access-date=17 October 2015 |publisher=Electoral Calculus}}{{cite news |title=York Central |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14001061 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150513134105/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14001061 |archive-date=13 May 2015 |access-date=13 May 2015 |work=BBC News }} Maskell used her maiden speech to advocate for a new mental health hospital in York to replace the ageing Bootham Park.{{cite news | last = Prest | first = Victoria |title=York's new MP gives first Commons speech|url= http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/13219963.York_s_new_MP_gives_first_Commons_speech|work=The Press | location = York |date=3 June 2015|access-date=3 June 2015}} Speaking of the vision of "[the] late member for Ebbw Vale" Aneurin Bevan, she said that "the growing social and financial inequalities manifest themselves in health inequality, and access to vital services is delayed and even denied as a direct result of the £3 billion structural reorganisation that the previous Government introduced."{{cite web|title=Rachael Maskell MP Maiden Speech|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2015-06-02b.457.2&s=speaker%3A25433#g511.0|website=They Work For You|access-date=18 June 2015}}

On Wednesday 8 July 2015, Maskell was one of four Labour MPs elected to the Health Select Committee.{{cite web|title=Health Committee – Membership – UK Parliament|url=http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/health-committee/membership/|website=Parliament|access-date=8 July 2015}}

On 20 July 2015 Maskell voted against the Welfare Bill in the House of Commons. She made a statement saying "I have a duty to protect our vulnerable people. I could not stand by and let the most vicious Tory attacks on some of the poorest in our city go unchallenged."{{cite web | last = Maskell | first = Rachael |title=Rachael Votes Against Welfare Bill|url=http://www.rachaelmaskell.com/rachael_votes_against_welfare_bill |website= rachaelmaskell.com | publisher =Rachael Maskell |access-date=21 July 2015}}

In September 2015, during the European refugee crisis, Maskell called on the UK to open its doors to refugees.{{cite news|last=Hall |first=Macer|title=Anger as Labour MP tells Government 'take refugees until Britain BREAKS'|url=http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/605150/Labour-MP-Rachael-Mask-take-refugees|work=Daily Express |date= 15 September 2015 |access-date=15 September 2015}} Speaking as 20,000 refugees arrived in Munich in one weekend,{{cite news| last = Shapiro | first = Emily |title=Refugee Crisis: What you need to know|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/latest-refugee-crisis/story?id=33600722|work=ABC News | date =8 September 2015|access-date=30 September 2015}} and as the German Government received 800,000 refugees in 2015,{{cite news | agency = Reuters | location = Berlin |title= Germany raises estimate on refugee arrivals to 800,000 this year |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/20/germany-raises-estimate-refugee-arrivals-800000|work=The Guardian | date = 20 August 2015 |access-date= 30 September 2015}} Maskell said that the UK Government must do more. She questioned David Cameron in the House of Commons asking "what criteria has the Prime Minister used to arrive at a figure of just six refugees per constituency per year?"{{cite web|title=Syria: Refugees and Counter-Terrorism|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2015-09-07b.23.0&s=speaker%3A25433#g59.2|website=They Work For You|access-date=30 September 2015}} In a statement on the crisis, she urged local authorities to help in every way they could and to use every space they had to offer to aid people fleeing war in Syria and Northern Iraq,{{cite web | last = Maskell | first = Rachael |title=Refugee Crisis|url=http://www.rachaelmaskell.com/refugee_crisis|website= rachaelmaskell.com | publisher =Rachael Maskell|access-date=30 September 2015}} she said "we are in the midst of a humanitarian crisis that is getting worse, I am incensed that Turkey is hosting over one and a half million refugees and our government says we will open our borders to no more than six men, women and children a year in each constituency."{{cite web |title=UK should do more|url=http://www.rachaelmaskell.com/uk_should_do_more |website= rachaelmaskell.com | publisher =Rachael Maskell |access-date=30 September 2015}}

Maskell spoke in the Trade-Union Bill 2nd Reading debate on 14 September 2015. She referred the house to her Register of Interests as a member of Unite the Union and declared "I am a proud trade-unionist" – she subsequently voted against the Bill.{{cite web|title=Trade-Union Bill: 14 Sep 2015 : House of Commons debates|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2015-09-14a.760.0&s=speaker%3A25433#g853.2|website=They Work For You|access-date=15 September 2015}}

Following a period working part of the Shadow Defence Team under Shadow Secretary of State for Defence Maria Eagle,{{cite web|title=Labour Frontbench: in full|url=http://labourlist.org/2015/09/labour-frontbench-in-full/|website= labourlist.org | publisher = LabourList|date=18 September 2015|access-date=18 September 2015}} Maskell was appointed Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary as part of the Labour Party's post-Brexit reshuffle.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36632956|title=Jeremy Corbyn unveils new top team after resignations|work=BBC News|date=27 June 2016|access-date=27 June 2016}} Maskell resigned from her position ahead of the vote on the second reading in the House of Commons European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill 2017 triggering Article 50, which carried a three-line whip imposed on Labour MPs.{{cite news|last=Cowburn|first=Ashley|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/rachel-maskell-resigns-labour-shadow-cabinet-mp-article-50-vote-brexit-latest-a7557856.html|title=Rachael Maskell and Dawn Butler resign from Labour's Shadow Cabinet ahead of Article 50 vote|work=The Independent|date=1 February 2017|access-date=1 February 2017}}

= 2nd term (2017–2019) =

Maskell was re-elected as MP for York Central at the snap 2017 general election with an increased vote share of 65.2% and an increased majority of 18,575.{{cite web |title=Parliamentary election results June 2017 |url=https://www.york.gov.uk/ElectionResults2017 |access-date=9 June 2017 |publisher=City of York Council}}{{cite news |title=York Central Parliamentary constituency – Election 2017 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14001061 |access-date=9 June 2017}}

She returned to the Labour front bench on 3 July 2017 as Shadow Rail Minister.{{cite news | last = oidptg |url=https://newsocialist.org.uk/reshuffle-2-the-ma/|title=Reshuffle 2: The Maintenance of the Malcontents|date=8 July 2017|work=New Socialist.|access-date=10 July 2017}}

On 5 March 2019, Maskell joined a dozen other Labour MPs on Westminster Bridge, next to the Houses of Parliament, in a protest against Brexit under the banner 'Love Socialism Hate Brexit'.{{cite web|url=https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/anti-brexit-protest-held-by-labour-mps-1-5919154/|title=Love Socialism Hate Brexit protest held by Labour MPs in Westminster|last=Read|first=Jonathon|date=5 March 2019|work=The New European|access-date=30 April 2019}}

She was one of five Labour MPs to vote against the extension of abortion rights to Northern Ireland.{{cite web|url=https://commonsvotes.digiminster.com/Divisions/Details/700#noes|title=Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill: Committee of the whole House New Clause 10 (Creasy) – CommonsVotes|website=commonsvotes.digiminster.com|access-date=9 July 2019}} During votes on the same bill, she also abstained on extending same-sex marriage to Northern Ireland.{{cite web|url=https://commonsvotes.digiminster.com/Divisions/Details/699#notrecorded|title=Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill: Committee of the whole House New Clause 1 (McGinn) – CommonsVotes|website=commonsvotes.digiminster.com|access-date=10 July 2019}}

= 3rd term (2019–2024) =

At the 2019 general election, Maskell was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 55.2% and a decreased majority of 13,545.{{cite web |date=13 December 2019 |title=Parliamentary Election results December 2019 : York Central |url=https://www.york.gov.uk/GeneralElectionResults2019 |access-date=13 December 2019 |website=City of York Council}}{{cite web |date=13 December 2019 |title=Election 2019 : York Central Parliamentary constituency |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14001061 |access-date=13 December 2019 |website=BBC News}}

Maskell endorsed Clive Lewis in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.{{cite web|url=https://www.minsterfm.com/news/local/3010408/rachel-maskell-mp-makes-her-leadership-pick/|title=Rachel Maskell MP makes her leadership pick|date=19 December 2019|website=Minster FM|access-date=4 January 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/labour-party/opinion/house-commons/108803/rachael-maskell-mp-clive-lewis-/|title=Rachael Maskell MP: Clive Lewis is the 'political signpost' that will lead the Labour Party back to power|date=6 January 2020|website=Politics Home|access-date=6 January 2020}} In January 2020, Maskell was returned to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Employment Rights, replacing Laura Pidcock, who lost her seat in the 2019 general election.{{cite news|url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/politics/shadow-cabinet-jobs-for-yorkshire-mps-tracy-brabin-and-rachael-maskell-1-10187936|title=Shadow cabinet jobs for Yorkshire MPs Tracy Brabin and Rachael Maskell|date=7 January 2020|work=Yorkshire Post|access-date=7 January 2020}}

On 14 December 2021, Maskell resigned from her frontbench role in order to defy the party whip by voting against mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for NHS staff.{{cite news |last1=Rodgers |first1=Sienna |last2=Chappell |first2=Elliot |title=22 Labour MPs rebel and two frontbenchers quit over new Covid laws |url=https://labourlist.org/2021/12/22-labour-mps-rebel-and-two-frontbenchers-quit-over-new-covid-laws/ |access-date=14 December 2021 |work=LabourList |date=14 December 2021}} She also voted in line with the party whip by voting in favour of COVID-19 vaccine passports and an expansion of mask mandates.{{cite web |title=Health Protection (Entry to venues etc) SI No 1416 |url=https://votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Commons/Division/1182#ayes |website=UK Parliament |access-date=14 December 2021}}{{cite web |title=Health Regulations (Face Coverings) SI No 1400 |url=https://votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Commons/Division/1181 |website=UK Parliament |access-date=14 December 2021}}

On 22 June 2022, Maskell was the only Labour MP to vote against extension of abortion services in Northern Ireland.{{cite news |date=22 June 2022 |title=Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2022 (SI, 2022, No. 554) Votes by Party |url=https://votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Commons/Division/1324#noes |access-date=22 June 2022}}

In 2023 Maskell suggested that English local councils should introduce maximum speed limits of 10mph in residential areas.{{cite news |last=Simpson |first=Jack |date=12 May 2023 |title=Labour MP calls for 10mph speed limit |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/12/labour-mp-rachael-maskell-10mph-speed-limit-mark-harper/ |access-date=14 May 2023 |issn=0307-1235}}

= 4th term (2024–) =

At the 2024 general election, Maskell was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 56.6% and an increased majority of 19,154.{{cite news |date=5 July 2024 |title=General Election 2024: Full results across York and North Yorkshire |url=https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/24433100.full-general-election-results-york-north-yorkshire/ |access-date=9 July 2024 |website=York Press }}{{cite web |date=5 July 2024 |title=Parliamentary election results July 2024 |url=https://www.york.gov.uk/ElectionResults2024 |access-date=5 July 2024 |website=City of York Council}}{{cite web |date=5 July 2024 |title=York Central results |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2024/uk/constituencies/E14001604 |access-date=5 July 2024 |website=BBC News}}

Maskell, in her capacity as Chair of the Dying Well APPG, became the leading voice against Kim Leadbeater's proposed assisted dying bill.{{cite news |last=Elgot |first=Jessica |date=27 October 2024 |title=MPs’ opposition to assisted dying bill grows amid criticism of lack of debate |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/oct/27/assisted-dying-bill-mps-opposition |access-date=29 October 2024 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}} She opposes her party's decision to introduce VAT on private school fees, believing that the policy will affect children with special needs.{{cite news |last1=Snepvangers |first1=Pieter |last2=Ross |first2=Madeleine |title=VAT raid ‘simply won’t work’, warns Labour MP |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/vat-raid-simply-not-work-warns-labour-mp/ |access-date=12 November 2024 |work=The Telegraph |date=28 October 2024}}

On 5 November 2024, Maskell tabled an Early day motion calling for the introduction of a 'Gaza Family Visa Scheme' based on the Ukraine Family Scheme, which would allow those affected by the Gaza war to seek refuge in the UK.{{cite web |title=Gaza family visa scheme |url=https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/62704/gaza-family-visa-scheme |website=UK Parliament |access-date=12 November 2024}}

Personal life

Maskell is a keen cyclist and rode the trip to the 2015 Labour Party Conference in Brighton from Parliament in aid of the British Heart Foundation.{{cite web|title=Cycle stunts and circuits|url=http://www.yorkmix.com/news/video-cycle-stunts-and-circuits-as-city-saddles-up-for-sky-ride/|website=York Mix|access-date=12 October 2015|date=14 September 2015}} She is an evangelical Christian.{{cite web|url=https://www.e-n.org.uk/2024/07/uk-news/a-labour-election-view-faith-comes-first/|title=A Labour election view: Faith comes first|date=9 July 2024|website=Evangelicals Now|accessdate=9 July 2024}}