SO THE General Election has started and with it, the dreary business of attacks on opponents.

Rather than criticising any of Labour candidate Rachael Maskell’s policies, Tory candidate Robert McIlveen (Letters, February 21) attacks her fitness to seek election.

Yes, Rachael Maskell is a Unite union official, representing workers in private and public sectors. She has also worked as a physiotherapist in the NHS for 20 years.

In York, Ms Maskell represented workers in the CGU insurance company, which became Aviva, and she has represented workers in the health service for many years.

Mr McIlveen suggests there’s something unworthy about this. What does he think is a more suitable occupation for an aspiring MP? Director of an outsourcing company who stands to gain from privatisation? A hedge-fund manager perhaps?

Ms Maskell was living in York before Hugh Bailey resigned and was not “parachuted in”. She is a longstanding member of the Labour Party who earned her place in national Labour Party NHS policy forums from her extensive health service experience.

Would members of Mr McIlveen’s party rule out the candidature of someone on the grounds that they were too experienced in Conservative Party policy making?

Chris Walker-Lyne, Millfield Road York.