TVM-based Conservative party councillor braves Reform surge in UK local polls, wins second term

In the UK Local Elections, swept by the hard-right Reform party wave, a 40-year-old engineer from Thiruvananthapuram has held fort and has been re-elected to the city council, representing the Conservative Party. Nikhil Sherine Thampi, hailing from Kowdiar in Thiruvanthapuram, was elected for a second term in the London Borough of Croydon, representing Coulsdon (Old Coulsdon in the first election and Coulsdon Town in the recent one).

The UK local elections redrew the political map with the Reform UK party winning over 1,450 seats while the Labour party and the Conservatives were confined to 1,064 and 804 seats respectively. Elections were held in 136 councils in 5,034 seats.

Nikhil is among the few Conservative leaders who won amid the strong surge of the Reform Party, led by Nigel Farage, a key architect of Brexit, in this year’s UK local elections. The elections saw both Labour and the Conservatives suffer major setbacks, while the Reform Party capitalised on growing anti-immigrant sentiment. According to Nikhil, immigrants, particularly those who arrived after 2021, are increasingly becoming targets despite migrating legally.

“The post-COVID migration policies introduced during Boris Johnson’s tenure opened the doors for large-scale legal migration because the UK faced severe staff shortages in sectors such as healthcare. But many people came without proper planning. Some fell victim to scams, borrowed heavily, failed to secure admission in reputed universities or find jobs, and eventually ended up in extremely difficult situations. I have personally seen many such cases from Kerala,” says Nikhil.

Nikhil acknowledges that some may question his warning, given that he himself is a migrant who successfully settled in Britain. However, he says careful planning made the difference. “I had a clear roadmap. I secured a stable career, my partner also built her career, and we eventually obtained British citizenship,” he says.

He completed his BTech in Electronics from Model Engineering College in Ernakulam before moving to the UK for a Master’s degree in Advanced Software Engineering in 2010. He later worked in senior engineering roles at global healthcare multinational companies.

In 2014, he married Nivea Gita Manohar, also from Kowdiar. The couple bought their first house in Coulsdon in 2017, which Nikhil describes as a turning point. His involvement in church and local community activities gradually paved the way for his entry into politics. He later became chairman of the local residents’ association and actively organised community events and neighbourhood initiatives, including carols and Diwali celebrations. His associations with local councillors and MPs also helped.

“My area is largely a white community, and building trust with residents helped my political journey,” he says. He formally joined the Conservative Party in 2018, obtained British citizenship in 2020 and was first elected a councillor in 2022. This year, he won from Coulsdon Town with the highest vote tally, 2,105 votes in a ward with a population of around 13,000, among the three councillors elected from there. He also treasures opportunities to work alongside former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during election campaigns.

Despite his success, Nikhil says politics in Britain is far from easy. “Unlike in India, you cannot survive in politics here without a stable career. The councillor’s allowance alone is not enough for a living. Election spending is also tightly regulated; the expenditure limit set by our party is around 200 pounds (roughly ₹25,000), most of which goes into printing leaflets. Campaigns depend heavily on volunteers,” he says.

According to him, voters in Britain focus more on governance and delivery than personality-driven politics. “People value efficient planning, implementation and local governance. The system encourages self-sufficiency, home ownership, innovation and entrepreneurship,” he says. As an example, Nikhil points to the introduction of a banking hub in his locality after elderly residents struggled when banks shifted largely to online services. “The banking hub, which brought multiple banks under one roof, became a major relief for senior citizens,” he says.

Currently working as a Senior Integration Specialist at Philips, Nikhil says balancing professional life, politics and family remains challenging. His wife, Nivea, works as a Senior Business Intelligence Officer with the NHS, and the couple have a seven-year-old daughter, Joann Nivea Nikhil.

Despite building a successful career and political life in the UK, Nikhil offers a cautious message to aspiring migrants. “Do not migrate to Britain unless you have strong financial backing and can manage expenses without depending on loans. Even if you move, it should primarily be for education, and one should consider returning after completing studies,” he says.