Rachael Maskell MP: The East Coast Main Line returned £1BN to the the treasury in public ownership after the collapse of the National Express contract. I asked the Minister if Virgin or the taxpayer alone will be contributing to the cost of upgrading the crumbling network. Labour will nationalise our rail network, It's time for public ownership for the public interest.

Rachael Maskell MP for York Central is supporting a campaign run by charity The Reading Agency to encourage all primary school children to take part in this year’s Summer Reading Challenge, which launches across England and Wales on Saturday 15^th July.

To mark the starting date of the summer-long project, Rachael will be donating several books to York’s city centre library York Explore on Saturday morning.

The Summer Reading Challenge, a unique partnership between The Reading Agency and public libraries across the UK, last year got over 729,000 children borrowing, reading and talking about their favourite books.

Rachael Maskell MP for York Central was named as the ‘Best Parliamentary Species Champion’ due to the work she has done to promote York’s unique Tansy Beetle, the species allocated to her by Buglife, the charity devoted to the conservation of all invertebrates.

On Tuesday (4^th July) a House of Commons debate was called to discuss the Gibb report outlining changes to be made to improve the Southern Rail network. Following Rachael Maskell’s recent appointment as a Shadow Minister for Transport, the Labour MP for York Central made a strong speech standing up for all Southern Rail users, making specific reference to those most vulnerable in society. Citing the “ageing infrastructure” and “profit-driven privatisation”, Rachael called for greater investment in the line to ensure the safety and protection of workers and users.