Coutinho was selected as the
Conservative candidate for
East Surrey on 8 November 2019 after the
2019 United Kingdom general election was announced at the end of October. Described in
The Guardian as a "super-safe Conservative seat", East Surrey was previously held by
Sam Gyimah who defected to the
Liberal Democrats in September that year. She was elected as MP for East Surrey at the
2019 general election, which was held on 12 December, with 59.7% of the vote and a majority of 24,040. This was a similar share of the constituency vote to that which the Conservative Party secured in the
previous election in 2017, when Gyimah took 59.6% of votes cast. In June 2020, the windows of the East Surrey Conservative Association offices were graffitied with the words "liars, cheats, traitors" in black paint. Coutinho joined the advisory board of the centre-right think tank
Onward in February 2020. She was appointed as a
Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to
Rishi Sunak in March 2020, She was a senior fellow at the conservative think tank
Policy Exchange in 2021. Coutinho resigned from her position as PPS on 6 July 2022 in protest at Prime Minister Johnson's leadership following the
Chris Pincher scandal, and endorsed Sunak in the
following Conservative Party leadership election. Coutinho served as
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Disabled People between September and October 2022 and
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing between October 2022 and August 2023. The government signed a £19.5 million contract with consultancy Newton Europe in June 2022 to design and develop its Delivering Better Value (DBV) programme, which aimed to reduce budget deficits in the education of children with
special educational needs and disabilities with a target of at least 20% cut in new education provision. In May 2023, Coutinho stated to the
Education Select Committee that there were no targets. In August 2023, Coutinho wrote to social landlords, housing associations and developers calling on them to let childminders work from rented properties. She commented that restrictive clauses in their contracts may stop them working from their homes. At the
2024 general election, Coutinho was re-elected to Parliament as MP for East Surrey with a decreased vote share of 35.6% and a decreased majority of 7,450. The Conservative Party lost the election, and on 8 July 2024, she was appointed as
Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero in
Sunak's shadow cabinet.
Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero On 31 August 2023, Coutinho was appointed as
Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, replacing
Grant Shapps; she was the first of the MPs elected in 2019 to join the Cabinet, and at 38 was the youngest member. In the
Daily Telegraph, Daniel Martin and Ben Riley-Smith commented that Coutinho's appointment came at a time when Sunak's government was signalling "a subtle change of policy from the Government away from green causes". They reported that a "senior government source" had stated that both Sunak and Coutinho were committed to planning for net zero, but would be looking to prevent people from facing large financial costs for the implementation of net zero plans. In April 2024, Coutinho replied to criticism from Chris Stark, the outgoing Head of the
Climate Change Committee that provides independent advice to ministers, that Sunak's government had hampered progress on climate change. Coutinho countered that the UK was the first major economy to reduce its emissions by half since 1990, and that she had made changes to the tax system to encourage investment in the energy sector. In
Sunak's Shadow Cabinet she retained her energy brief as the
Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. Upon
Kemi Badenoch's victory in the Conservative leadership contest in November, Coutinho was retained as Shadow Energy Secretary and was given additional responsibilities as the
Shadow Minister for Equalities.
Public image Coutinho has been characterised as an ardent
Brexit supporter, Stewart wrote that "Like Sunak... Coutinho has spoken with pride about her Indian background." Rachel Cunliffe of
New Statesman wrote that descriptions of Coutinho from Conservative Members of Parliament included that she was competent, "work-driven", "level-headed" and "forensic-minded". Discussing Coutinho's reputation amongst her colleagues, Cunliffe remarked that "The common narrative is that Coutinho is a dedicated grafter who got lucky, backed the right person at the right time, and has been rewarded by a troubled prime minister desperately trying to surround himself with people he can trust." == Personal life ==