AFTER the disappointment of the election result there appears to be a small silver lining.

I am thrilled York’s new MP Rachael Maskell has set her stall out so clearly (both on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and in a open letter with some other new Labour MPs) that she wants to challenge thinking that suggests the panacea for the Labour party is to hunker back into a Blairite 1997 way of thinking.

Instead she wants to challenge the need for austerity. Further it is the first time recently that I have seen the word ‘aspiration’ used in a responsible way.

Rather than using aspiration as a uniquely ‘middle-class’ preserve, the letter acknowledges that aspiration is something shared by all people.

Indeed it is sad that the past five years (and the next five) will be used by the Tories to prevent the realisation of those aspirations in terms of secure decently-paid work and homes as well as genuine and affordable opportunities for young people leaving school.

Thank you, Rachael. I can see a glint of sunshine!

Richard Bridge, Holgate Road, York.