Rachael Maskell was first elected as the Labour MP for York Central in 2015, being reelected in the 2019 General Election with a majority of 13,545.
The constituency of York Central has traditionally been a Labour seat, and became even more so, after the outer districts of York were split into a separate constituency in 2010. Containing the ancient centre of York itself, the city’s university is also found in this constituency. For a Yorkshire seat, a high 61% of the population here voted Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum.
Maskell was appointed as Shadow Minister for the Voluntary Sector and Charities in April 2020. However she resigned from the front bench after rebelling against the Labour Party on a plan to introduce compulsory vaccines for NHS staff.
Under Jeremy Corbyn she served briefly in the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, having previously been Shadow Minister for Rail.
Born in 1972, Rachael Maskell studied physiotherapy at the University of East Anglia. She worked as a care worker and a physiotherapist for 20 years, before being elected to Parliament.
Research by the Press Association suggested that between in the first years of the current Parliament, Maskell was one of Westminster’s most active MPs. During this period, she was said to have asked 3,349 Parliamentary Questions to Government ministers, more than any other MP.
Rachael is a former Trade Union official and worked as head of health for the Union, Unite. She sat on Labour’s National Executive Committee between 2011 and 2015.
Maskell is a keen cyclist.
In 2019, Maskell was one of just five Labour MPs who opposed the extension of abortion rights to Northern Ireland.
Maskell has previously called for a ban on drag and trail hunting.
At Westminster, Rachael Maskell is Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Adoption and Permanence, Adverse Childhood Experiences, on Flood Prevention, and on Ageing and Older People. She is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Suicide and Self Harm Prevention, Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, Ending Homelessness, Mental Health, and on Dying Well.
Email – rachael.maskell.mp@parliament.uk
Website – www.rachaelmaskell.com
Twitter – @RachaelMaskell
