A North Yorkshire MP is confident his constituency will remain Conservative at the next election, even though current polling predicts a Labour gain.

Sir Robert Goodwill is standing down as MP for Scarborough and Whitby, a seat he won from Labour in 2005 and building up a majority of more than 10,000.

Now, promising ‘generational change,’ the Tories have Roberto Weeden-Sanz as their candidate, who was born and raised in the Leeds area, though he lived in London in recent years, as a councillor and working in retail banking.

Roberto, who’s mum is Spanish, also has a Yorkshire heritage stretching back generations, saying “I have always considered myself a proud Yorkshireman.”  

READ MORE:

He stood for the Conservatives in Doncaster in 2019, coming second, and moved to Scarborough last year, living on South Cliff.

Roberto said: “I started my career in the charity sector and served as a Special Constable in the police before getting into politics. I have always believed in giving back to the community and trying to make a difference and have spent a lot of time volunteering over the years with charities which support the homeless and people with disabilities.”

The candidate has been campaigning alongside Keane Duncan, the equally youthful Conservative Mayoral candidate for North Yorkshire, including on issues such as dualling the A64.

Roberto said: “I cannot bear the idea of Britain in decline. If elected I will be a voice for energy and food security, campaigning to support our farmers and fishermen to enable them to feed the country.

“I believe we need to restore our national pride, get immigration levels under control, fix the health, educational and job inequalities that we suffer from on the coast compared to the rest of the country and provide healthcare which is adequate for the 21st century and look after our pensioners.”

The candidate accepts people have frustrations with the government, but he dismisses Reform UK as a protest party, saying voting for them could deliver a Labour MP and a Labour government.

Current polling predicts a Labour victory, with Electoral Calculus estimating their candidate Alison Hume will overturn Sir Robert’s 10,276 Tory majority, winning by a similar margin on 48.6%, with the Tories on 26.6% and Reform third on 15.9%.

Nonetheless, Sir Robert says Roberto is “working very hard to understand all the issues” and he is “confident that the Conservatives will hold the seat.”

The MP added: “There are still substantial numbers of undecided people and others who have not yet really thought carefully about where they want to go and with more good economic news feeding through, including tax cuts then many I believe would rather support the party that has delivered substantial benefits for the country in the last 14 years.”

The other candidates are David Bowes (Reform), Annette Hudspeth (Green), Asa Jones (Social Justice Party)