RACHAEL MASKELL MP’s reaction to the PM’s call for a snap election as “reckless” looks strange (The Press, April 18).

Indeed it was rapidly contradicted by her own party, who said they supported going to the country at this time.

Ms Maskell’s mistaken belief that we are in the midst of Brexit negotiations and that a general election now takes Britain away from the negotiating table is wrong.

Both France and Germany have national elections later this year, causing them a significant distraction, a situation which will continue until the autumn.

Civil servants will continue over the summer to lay the necessary groundwork for the negotiations to come, which they would have been doing anyway, so in reality these next two months are an ideal time for the PM to seek a mandate of her own - something Gordon Brown as PM never had the courage to do.

I suspect Ms Maskell’s panic has nothing to do with her concern over Brexit and far more with the fact that she will soon be put to the test in a city which has never warmed to her constantly criticising it and jumping on bandwagons.

Cllr Chris Steward, Conservative, Rural West ward, York