Is GNER mad? Positively the last political "ally" you'd ever need if you were fighting to keep your rail franchise would be a backbench Labour MP.

What kind of influence does York's MP wield when only 22 of the 93 constituencies that GNER passes through have signed his early day motion (January 20)?

If ever a rail company deserved to keep its franchise, it is GNER. So far 20,000 of us - who pay for our tickets, unlike MPs - have signed their petition.

The Strategic Rail Authority will be making its decision soon on whether to renew GNER's licence. Why then does the motion call on "the Government... to reward a successful company and its helpful staff, so that they will continue to operate this strategically important route"? It's the Strategic Rail Authority's decision, not the Government's.

The next day, the Evening Press reported our MP's opinion that "the University of York should open its doors to York schools, so that young people can see what is on offer if they get a university place". As if it were the university's fault that only one in four (half the national average) of York's 18 and 19-year-olds go on to higher education.

Since York's four main private schools are in the top 200 league table for university entrants, imagine what the overall York figures might have looked like without them.

Perhaps our MP can justify how education has improved under Labour, when the figures clearly show the reverse?

Factor in the impact of charging university tuition fees - that Labour promised in its manifesto it wouldn't introduce, and then did - and this goes some way to demonstrating that our MP is out of touch with what is going on in Westminster, and his constituency.

Clive Booth,

York's Conservative Parliamentary candidate,

Ash Street,

York.

Updated: 11:10 Tuesday, February 01, 2005