Nepal UK
When Nina Gurung moved to Britain in 1999, her husband had just joined the British Army and she had recently left Pokhara. Twenty-seven years later, she sits in the cabinet of Medway Council in Kent, having already served as the council's mayor, a path that many in the UK's Nepali community now cite as proof that local politics is open to them.
Cllr Gurung, a Labour and Co-operative councillor for Chatham Central and Brompton, was elected to Medway Council on 4 May 2023 with 1,211 votes. On 24 May 2023 she was chosen as Mayor of Medway, a role she held until 15 May 2024. Community profiles at the time described her as the first Nepali woman to serve as a mayor in the UK; that claim comes from community sources rather than an official register, and NepalUK has not been able to confirm it independently.
In July 2024, council leader Cllr Vince Maple invited her to join the cabinet as Portfolio Holder for Heritage, Culture and Leisure, one of three appointments made after other cabinet members were elected as MPs. She also sits on the Medway Norse Ltd Shareholder Board.
Gurung's route into politics ran through community life rather than the party machine. According to a 2023 interview, she passed her SLC in Pokhara, settled in Medway in 2005, raised two daughters and continued her studies, earning a master's degree in international relations and social policy at the University of Kent. Her research on the settlement and integration of Gurkha families in the UK was noted by central government at the time, and she credited it with informing local work on community cohesion.
She worked in social work, rising to a managerial post, and served as president of the Medway Nepali community. She told Nepal Khabar that she joined Labour "to pursue policy-level change", and that she was elected mayor within a year of doing so. She remains active with the Buddhist Community Centre UK and several Medway charities.
Speaking after her election as mayor, she said: "I am honoured to have been elected Mayor of Medway." She added that she hoped her journey would "inspire everyone in Medway to never give up."
Gurung's story is part of a wider pattern. In the May 2026 local elections, at least six councillors of Nepali origin were elected, according to community reporting: Jeet Ranabhat and Gaumaya Gurung in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Jib Narayan Belbase and Uttar Bahadur Gurung in Rushmoor (Aldershot), Pratiksha Gurung in Reading, and Lakshya Gurung in Barnet. Reports describe Pratiksha Gurung as the first Nepali-origin councillor elected in Reading, and Gaumaya Gurung as a first-time councillor. Party affiliations included both Labour and Conservative, which shows that Nepali participation is not confined to one party. The number of candidates reported varies by source, so the total who stood is unclear.
Many Nepali families in Kent, Hampshire and south-east London are connected to the Gurkha settlement that followed changes in residency rights, and councils in those areas now serve large, settled Nepali populations. Gurung's route, from volunteering and professional work to the cabinet table, illustrates how that settled community is beginning to see its own members among decision-makers.
Local government decides on libraries, heritage, culture and leisure, areas that touch everyday life and that diaspora communities often feel are decided without them. In Gurung's portfolio, culture and heritage are the day-to-day business. For younger people of Nepali heritage weighing whether to stand, her record shows a practical sequence: community leadership, a professional career, party membership, a ward election and then council office.
NepalUK has not interviewed Cllr Gurung for this report, and the account above relies on her council and party profiles and published interviews. Any current remarks or events involving her are not covered here.
