Claire Coutinho News Update – October 2025
I hope you all had a fantastic October. I visited Manchester at the start of the month for the Conservative Party Conference. We announced a flurry of policies, including commitments to abolishing stamp duty and business rates for high street shops if we were to win the next election. In my area of energy, I will be campaigning to cut the cost of electricity by 20 percent – something that could be done tomorrow by making two changes that are entirely in the hands of Ministers. You can watch my conference speech on my YouTube channel.
Back at home, the conference recess allowed me to step back from Westminster and soak up the history, heritage and beauty of East Surrey’s towns and villages. From Outwood’s iconic windmill to Crowhurst’s Yew Tree, our little patch of England is steeped in heritage. We should be proud of where we came from, and no one should tell us otherwise. In the run-up to Christmas, I will be exploring and sharing East Surrey’s history, from well-known stories to the hidden gems. If you know of any spots of historical magic, please share them with me on claire.coutinho.mp@parliament.uk and I will add it to my list of places to visit.
A sacrosanct part of our heritage are East Surrey’s brilliant pubs, restaurants and hospitality venues. As one publican said to me recently, our pubs are the nation’s living rooms, another home from home. I was pleased to welcome many of East Surrey’s businesses to my hospitality roundtable in September. It has been a tough year for the sector: a hike in tax, new employment regulations, stubbornly high inflation and rising energy bills. The Hare & Hound, where we held the roundtable, is more than 400 years old. To lose these places would be to tear a chapter out of our local heritage. With the concerns raised, I will be writing to the Chancellor ahead of her next budget.
As a self-confessed community centre superfan, I was thrilled to be invited to officially open The Mast Park Pavilion in Oxted last month. I cannot tell you how few things I have actually seen built in my six years as an MP. The new community hub at Master Park is a tribute to the passion of Pammy McNaughton and all the Trustees and donors who made it happen through their mammoth fundraising efforts. Praise must also go to Surrey County Councillor Cameron McIntosh for his support, and the brilliant Titsey brewery, who are running the bar. Community spaces like these can do wonders for our sense of belonging and wellbeing. I look forward to the joy it will bring to residents in the years ahead. Huge well done all!
For residents of Godstone and Bletchingley, the High Street collapse continues to cause knock-on issues – one of them being the volume of traffic now zipping through previously quiet roads, with Eastbourne Road bearing the brunt of the diversion. I met with homeowners to discuss what can be done to ease the pressure. One possibility was to temporarily reduce the speed limit; unfortunately, this idea was rejected by Surrey County Council when I approached them, citing a lack of evidence of speeding. I am now working with residents to set up a Community Speedwatch. This initiative has seen huge success in Oxted, so I hope the benefits can be mirrored here too.
I have also been charging ahead with my Bletchingley water pressure campaign. The overwhelming request from residents has been for a water station to be set up. I have been pushing SES Water to deliver this, but it has been really frustrating that they have been refusing my requests to do so. I took it right to the top and wrote to their Chief Executive. As has become the norm with my communications with SES Water, the response was total garbage. I will now be writing to the regulator, Ofwat, as the situation has become completely unacceptable.
To more positive news, I would like to say a huge thank you to the 14 wonderful ladies from the Lingfield WI who made the trip up to Westminster for a tour of Parliament a few weeks ago. The Palace of Westminster belongs to us all, so I run free tours for constituents in East Surrey when Parliament is not sitting. If you are a constituent and would be interested in a tour, please email me with your full name and address and I will get back to you with details of our next sessions.