Thomas Kerr (Scottish politician)

Thomas Jordan Kerr (born 1996) is a Scottish politician serving as a Reform UK councillor for Shettleston on Glasgow City Council. He was originally elected in 2017 as a Scottish Conservative and served as the party's group leader on the council from 2019 until his defection to Reform UK in 2025, becoming the party’s first councillor in Glasgow.

Kerr was born in 1996.^[2] His mother Debra had struggled with heroin misuse prior to his birth, and so he lived with his grandparents, Margaret and Thomas, whilst he attended primary school.^[2][3] He lived with his mother again after she recovered, but when she relapsed, he stayed with his aunt Elaine before staying with his grandparents again.^[3] Kerr said he had an "on-off" relationship with his father Billy, who left when he was young and was a member of the Orange Order.^[2][3] His father also struggled with heroin addiction and died in 2016 at the age of 43 from drug-related causes.^[2]

Kerr was raised in Cranhill and attended Eastbank Academy in Shettleston.^[4] His interest in politics began at age 10, when he was taken to a protest against the Iraq War by his SNP supporting aunt.^[4] After meeting his political hero, Scottish Labour MP Margaret Curran in 2008, Kerr began campaigning for his MSPs Paul Martin and Frank McAveety.^[3] However, after being told that he leaned more to the right politically and seeing Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie on television, he contacted Conservative candidate for Glasgow Pollok Andrew Morrison and joined the party in 2011.^[3][4] In the lead-up to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, he participated in the Better Together campaign.^[4]

Kerr first unsuccessfully stood for Glasgow Shettleston in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.^[4] He was elected as a councillor for Shettleston in the 2017 Glasgow City Council election and became the deputy leader of the Scottish Conservative group on the council.^[5][6] In May 2019, Kerr was elected leader of the group following David Meikle's resignation amid a controversy involving his wife, former SNP politician Natalie McGarry, who was convicted of embezzlement.^[6] This made Kerr, the youngest leader of a council group in Scotland.^[6]

Kerr unsuccessfully stood for Glasgow East in the 2017 and 2019 United Kingdom general elections.^[7][8] In the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, he again failed to be elected in Glasgow Shettleston.^[9] Kerr retained his council seat in the 2022 Glasgow City Council election, one of two Scottish Conservatives out of eight to do so,^[10][11] and stood for the party at the 2023 Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election, where he finished a distant third.^[12] Kevin McKenna of The Herald who met him on the campaign trail wrote that he thought Kerr could be a future leader of the Scottish Conservatives.^[13] Kerr unsuccessfully contested Glasgow East for the third time in the 2024 United Kingdom general election.^[10]

In January 2025, he defected to Reform UK, becoming the party's first councillor in Glasgow.^[12] Kerr stated that the Conservatives were overly focused on criticising the SNP and "lacked a positive vision of centre-right conservatism".^[12] He added that Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay lacked control of the "broken" party.^[12] Findlay said the defection was "very disappointing".^[12] According to Holyrood, a Conservative Party source indicated that Kerr's defection was influenced by the prospect of being placed at the top of Reform UK's Glasgow list in the upcoming Scottish Parliament election.^[3]

Kerr and his fiancée have a son.^[14]