The Curious Case Of A Tory MP's Campaign To Get A Fish And Chip Shop Opened
A Tory MP has launched a “weird” campaign to get a fish and chip shop opened.
Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP Steve Tuckwell posted a video on X indicating his concern that there was no fish and chip shop in Uxbridge town centre – despite acknowledging the existence of two others nearb.
The Mirror reported there appears to be 10 fish and chip shops in the Uxbridge area.
The plea raised eyebrows on the social media network. Why was a politician from the free enterprise-supporting Conservative Party interfering with the market? Are there not bigger issues to be championing during a cost-of-living crisis? What is he campaigning to change, given there’s no legal pathway to enforce the opening of a takeaway food outlet?
We have a fish & chip shop in Cowley & one near St Andrew’s Park, but we don’t in Uxbridge Town Centre.
— Steve Tuckwell MP (@tuckwell_steve) March 27, 2024
That’s why I’m launching a campaign to get us a fish & chip shop in Uxbridge Town Centre, but I need your support to do it.
Sign up ????https://t.co/mxPSIoLBbv ???? ???? pic.twitter.com/2dHmGgJtX8
Labour’s parliamentary candidate Danny Beales responded: “Maybe try to save the library first? You couldn’t make it up. Tory MP supports the closure of libraries, nurseries and youth centres. But campaigns for an extra fish and chip shop. Uxbridge and South Ruislip deserves so much better.”
Some claimed the campaign was effectively a device to get voters to sign up to the MP’s mailing list. A petition page link posted by Tuckwell suggests people can show support by signing up with their name, email address and postcode, and a tick box alongside it reads: “I agree to Steve Tuckwell using the contact information I provide to keep me updated via email and telephone on this and other issues until further notice.”
On X, food critic Jay Rayner argued the “proper weird” campaign was “just a data scraping exercise”, while others claimed Tuckwell opposed the opening of a fish and chip shop in 2019 in his role as a local councillor.
Minutes from a Hillingdon Council meeting on June 4, 2019, state Tuckwell attended a planning committee meeting where it was “unanimously agreed” to reject a planning application for “hot food takeaway” on Windsor Street.
The minutes state: “Members expressed concern regarding the visibility of the external duct and the fact that it would be sited in close proximity to an existing first floor window; this raised concerns regarding the potential for noise and smell.”
This looks proper weird. How can you campaign for a new fish & chip shop? Who do you petition? The haddock? Until you click on the link and realise it’s just a data scraping exercise on behalf of the Conservative Party. https://t.co/D7CiBItmty
— Jay Rayner (@jayrayner1) March 27, 2024
In other news, here are the details of an Uxbridge town centre fish and chip shop personally refused planning permission by Steve Tuckwell and his colleagues back in 2019 https://t.co/8ogh99ICHhpic.twitter.com/LHpxMg0gfM
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) March 27, 2024
This is unusual for a couple of reasons.
— Mikey Smith (@mikeysmith) March 27, 2024
1) There are two fish and chip shops near where this video was made. One is roughly 10 mins walk away.
2) There is no law that I'm aware of against chip shops opening in Uxbridge.
So what on earth could @tuckwell_steve be doing with all… https://t.co/IGzAfWauzi
How will a petition get a fish and chip shop in Uxbridge?
— Otto English (@Otto_English) March 27, 2024
How does that even work? https://t.co/d6dNNTiGRR
After consulting with Steve Tuckwell I have updated our National Priorities:
— Parody Rishi Sunak (@Parody_PM) March 27, 2024
-a fish and chip shop in Uxbridge
-another barber in Kettering
-2 extra parking bays behind Tesco Express in Winnersh
-an extra litter bin in Littlehampton High Street https://t.co/7TjVAaBddr
2024: Conservative MP Steve Tuckwell begins a culture war by campaigning for a fish and chip shop
— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) March 27, 2024
2019: When Steve Tucknwell was a Councillor in 2019, he voted against a fish and chip shop
The application rejection reads, "should a fish and chip shop operate late night to cater… pic.twitter.com/YBcL3y64zv
I don’t understand how this works, a fish’n’chip shop isn’t a pedestrian crossing by a school or waste ground which could be turned into a park, it’s a business people either want to open or not, how do you campaign people into opening a business pic.twitter.com/anKzLWogpb
— Toby Earle ???????? Threads tobyontv (@TobyonTV) March 27, 2024
Steve was in attendance at the Hillingdon Council planning meeting in which they heard an application for a fish and chip shop in Uxbridge town centre.
— kerri (@_kerriprince) March 27, 2024
He voted against it. https://t.co/Ll6lylnXYn
You don’t get fish and chip shops anymore. Because of woke https://t.co/65YKOl5yqY
— Godspeed You Black Tamperer (ft Maya) (@twlldun) March 27, 2024
Tory MPs shut down libraries, fire stations, swimming pools and local bus services. Then campaign to get somebody else to open a fish and chip shop.
— David__Osland (@David__Osland) March 27, 2024
The Tories narrowly retained, Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Boris Johnson’s former seat, following a bitter by-election campaign in July, with Tuckwell beating Beales by just 495 votes to become the new MP.
The Conservatives effectively turned the by-election into a referendum on Labour mayor Sadiq Khan’s decision to expand London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).