Tories would still be in charge in Scarborough if Boris Johnson was made PM earlier, says ex-council leader Derek Bastiman

Derek Bastiman doesn't take much prompting to wax lyrical about the beauty of his home borough of Scarborough, insisting it has the beating of any coastal area up and down the country.

But the former estate agent, who has served a combined 67 years in local government in the area in various forms, says the attractiveness of the area has presented its own problems when it comes to combating coronavirus.

A spike in recent cases has seen the Scarborough borough added to the Government's watchlist, something he describes as "very worrying" but "not surprising".

"If people live in a less beautiful areas than we live in, it's quite obvious they will be attracted to us, the coastal areas, it's a beautiful area to live in is Scarborough borough.

"And so it's not surprising that the numbers have spiked because I do think people have taken the attitude of 'don't worry lads, everything is all right, we can stand next to each other, we're drinking in gangs. People have got complacent to be honest."

The Conservative councillor is upset that this month's Battle of Britain anniversary events were not celebrated in the proper manner, and draws a wartime analogy to describe the nation's current predicament.

"We're fighting something else that we can't see this time," he tells The Yorkshire Post during an interview carried out via Zoom. "In a normal fight your enemies are in front of you, this is something you can't see so you don't know where it's coming from."

As leader of Scarborough Borough Council until last year, when the ruling Tory group lost power to a Labour and Independent Group coalition in the local elections, he has watched from the sidelines as the new administration has attempted to tackle the fallout from the pandemic.

Earlier this year the 67-year-old called on the authority to bring in a coalition cabinet to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

But in response Labour leader Steve Siddons, who declined to take part in an interview with The Yorkshire Post this month, said now was “not the time for unnecessary diversions”. He said at the time: “We already are a coalition council, Labour and Independent, and have been since last May."

Coun Bastiman, who remains a county and parish councillor said his offer to form "a rainbow coalition as we did up in the early 2000s" was supported by the Greens and a cluster of independents.

"And it was a genuine offer to park politics, you have your battle every four years, park your politics now and go into it and try and get the best out for the people who put us there to start with, but they didn't want to know, so we remain an effective opposition, and that's what we've got to do."

In the immediate aftermath of the local elections he said it was Theresa May and her Brexit policies which cost the Conservatives their local grip on power. But he is more positive about the current administration, despite the criticism it has faced over its handling of the pandemic.

"It's all ifs and buts but if the local elections had been when Boris Johnson was leader Scarborough would have had a thumping majority with the Conservatives.