Miriam Cates

Miriam Cates MP in 2019

Miriam Joy Cates (née Atkins; born 23 August 1982) is a British Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Penistone and Stocksbridge from 2019 to 2024. Before her parliamentary career, she was the finance director of a technology consultancy, teacher, and a parish councillor.

Quotes

2021–2023

• Yet trans activists have succeeded in campaigning for biological males who identify as female to be allowed into women’s sports, women’s hospital wards and women’s prisons, even when these trans women still have intact male genitalia. This is not acceptable, and presents a serious threat to women’s safety, as well as our sex-based rights.
  • "The cancellation of women is bigger than a 'culture war'" The Telegraph (11 October 2021).

• As a woman, I fully understand the threats to dignity and safety that the Bill poses, because it will change the social contract. In this country, we recognise that in toilets, changing rooms and public spaces, there are areas where only women are allowed.
  In a restaurant recently, I had an experience where a man dressed as a woman walked into the toilets where I was on my own. He stood behind me and stared at me in the mirror, looking me in the eye. I have no idea whether he intended me any harm, but my evolved instinct as a woman was to be frightened, because unlike in almost any other species, women are far less powerful than men and we cannot defend ourselves. [Interruption.] No, it is a fact. The difference in strength between men and women is phenomenal, which is why we have separate sex categories for sport. Women are evolved to be wary of men in intimate spaces, which is why we have single-sex spaces and why they must continue to exist for the safety and privacy of women. The Bill threatens that social contract.
  • Extract from speech, "Scotland Act 1998: Section 35 Power" Hansard Volume 726, No. 101 (17 January 2023), col. 251–252, 252.
  • From a debate on a Section 35 order by the Westminster government to block the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill which had been passed by the Scottish parliament from receiving royal assent. Section 35 refers to a provision of the Scotland Act 1998.

• [On gender ideology] If there's one place where a woman should be able to speak up about these issues, that should be parliament.
• The problem with this point of view represented by those who subscribe to gender ideology is that they don't respond to rational debate with counterarguments.
  They respond to it with cries of 'bigots', or cries of trying to silence people who express an opposite point of view. That's what is so frustrating.
  • On the the newspaper's podcast, as cited in "Planet Normal: 'House of Commons authorities should look at Russell-Moyle tactics' says Miriam Cates" The Telegraph (26 January 2023).
  • During her speech on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, Miriam Cates had been harassed in the House of Commons by the Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle who, according to Janice Turner in The Times, crossed "the chamber to sit close by and stare at her". He later apologised for the manner in which he expressed himself.

• [On a lack of "hope for the future" discouraging the young from becoming parents] That hope is sadly diminishing in so many of our young people today, because liberal individualism has proven to be completely powerless to resist the cultural Marxism that is systematically destroying our children’s souls.
  When culture, schools and universities openly teach that our country is racist, our heroes are villains, humanity is killing the Earth, you are what you desire, diversity is theology, boundaries are tyranny and self-restraint is oppression, is it any wonder that mental health conditions, self-harm and suicide, and epidemic levels of anxiety and confusion characterise the emerging generation?
  We must end the indoctrination of our children with destructive and narcissistic ideologies, instead protecting childhood, training children in the timeless virtues and teaching them how to love our country.
• For children are not an economic burden. They are not a threat to personal autonomy or a lifestyle choice. Children are a joy and a blessing, they are the symptom and the cause of a society that has hope.
  Our children are the reason that we seek to rebuild a nation whose future is prosperous, safe and free.
  • Speech at the National Conservatism conference, as cited in "Tory MP Miriam Cates brings up conspiracy theory with 'antisemitism' links in speech" The National (15 May 2023).

• I think ... I'm uncomfortable ... I believe every human being is equal before God. That's my faith position. I don't think we can get away from the fact that abortion is taking human life. There are obviously balances of rights, and I'm not an absolutist at all.
• [On motherhood] Some young people are led to believe it's all drudgery [...] 'It’s a noose around your neck.' But most people don't regret having children. We don't talk openly enough as a society about what's great about being a mum or a dad. We talk about what's great about a career, and that's fine. But we should talk about other fulfilling things in life.
  • Interviewed by Janice Turner as cited in "Is Miriam Cates a mainstream Tory or a right-wing ideologue?" The Times (30 June 2023).

• Perhaps we could ask the Church of England to return to their day job and marry people for free.
  • From a speech during a fringe meeting during the Conservative Party conference, as cited in "Let people marry for free to support family life, Miriam Cates tells Church of England", The Telegraph (3 October 2023).
  • Levying fees for wedding services, according to the Church's website, "has ancient origins".

2024–present

• We have got a problem in this country with knowing what the problem is but not being able to do anything about it.
  • From an interview, as cited in "Miriam Cates: the radical traditionalist", The New Statesman (7 February 2024).

• What does it even mean to "undermine British values" when there is no consensus — and certainly no legal definition — of what those values are?
• Some people think that gender critical views are 'extreme'. I think decriminalising abortion to birth is 'extreme'. Opposition politicians think the current government is 'extreme'.
• If 'extremist' views are illegal, then the person who defines 'extremism' has the power to curtail free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press and freedom of association. This is the path to authoritarianism.
  • Extracts from a series of posts on X, as cited in "Tories divided over new definition of extremism", The Times (4 March 2024).
  • The government of Rishi Sunak was debating internally changing the definition of extremism to deal with Islamist and far-right extremism, but it was feared the changes could affect gender critical feminists and Christian activists opposed to abortion and Same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom.