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Miriam Joy Cates (born 23 August 1982) is a British former politician who was the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Penistone and Stocksbridge from 2019 to 2024.
Whilst at primary school, she was "raised with rhymes about how much people hated Margaret Thatcher." She then attended King Edward VII School, a comprehensive school, where she was a straight-A student. She reports that the "Leftist" ethic of her school turned her towards Conservatism ideas. Initially, she intended to become a Pianist.
Cates went on to study Natural science at Christ's College, Cambridge,"Oxbridge colleges offer a particularly sheltered existence — when I was at Christ’s College, our rooms were cleaned, our bins emptied and all our meals cooked." Cates, Miriam (10 May 2024). "The students are revolting. Far too many young people are sheltered from the real world by their university education.". The Critic. Retrieved 12 May 2024. where she earned a degree in genetics. She went on to obtain a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from Sheffield Hallam University, and worked as a biology teacher at Tapton School in Sheffield.
Cates stood as a Conservative candidate for Stannington ward in the 2018 Sheffield City Council election and joined the party in the same year, finishing third behind the Liberal Democrats candidates.
At that conference, in 2019, Cates met Anne Jenkin, who was recruiting for women candidates, and identified a seat near her home. Cates was subsequently selected, and campaigned to be the MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge in the 2019 general election. The seat was targeted as part of Boris Johnson's red wall strategy, with Cates and Johnson appearing together in the local campaign.
Cates won the seat, with a majority of 7,210 (14.5%) on a swing of 8.6% from Labour to the Conservatives. As such, Cates became the first Conservative MP in South Yorkshire since 1992.
After her election, it was reported that a mobile app for foodbanks, developed by a company co-owned by Cates and her husband, was charging charities for its services. It was confirmed that the app had been offered to the first foodbank at no cost. However, there was a set-up charge for sub help defray development and training costs. Media accused her of breaking Covid rules by attending an event in December 2020, though a later inquiry was "satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the event included both business and social elements".
Once in Parliament, Cates served as a member of the Ecclesiastical Committee and the Education Select Committee. In the latter role, she submitted a report to the Prime Minister presenting evidence that many schools routinely misapply equality law "in favour of gender ideology." In its place, Cates argued for a more strongly pro-parent outlook from Britain's schools.
Cates also co-chaired a local advancement initiative, the Stocksbridge Towns Fund, with local property developer Mark Dransfield. Alongside national-conservative figure Danny Kruger, Cates was elected to the Executive of the 1922 Committee on 11 July 2022. In Updates thread: 5:43PM.
Halfway through her term, Boris Johnson resigned from the leadership, and Cates participated in the July-September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election During the contest, Cates endorsed Suella Braverman; the leadership election was ultimately won by Liz Truss, who resigned less than two months later to be succeeded by Rishi Sunak.
During Braverman's tenure as home secretary, Cates supported Braverman when she was criticised. When Braveman accused London's Metropolitan Police of being more lenient with pro-Palestine protesters than supporters of Israel, Cates argued: "Suella Braverman’s views may be distasteful to Westminster liberals but they're utterly mainstream in the rest of UK".
At the 2024 general election, Cates lost her seat to the Labour candidate Marie Tidball. Compared to her 2019 performance, she lost a significant share of the vote to Labour and the right-wing populist Reform UK.
In an opinion piece about the election, Cates wrote, "Reader, we blew it." Offering that her party was "staring into the abyss" because it had failed, or forgotten, voters in post-industrial towns who wanted economic regeneration, patriotism, cultural security family, neighbourhood and nation.
“I don’t care if you’re a Red Tory, a Communitarianism, a follower of Edmund Burke, or, heaven forbid, a Libertarianism free marketeer. None of these traditions has a future, none of our philosophical musings or policy proposals will amount to anything long-lasting unless we address the one overarching threat to British conservatism, and indeed the whole of Western society. No, it’s not climate change. It’s not Russia or China or Iran. It’s not the Neo-Marxism ideology that has so weakened our institutions. It’s not inflation or taxation or poor productivity. No. There is one critical outcome that Individualism has completely failed to deliver and that is babies."
During the COVID-19 pandemic Cates argued the policy emphasis should have been on "the long term impact of lockdowns on young peoples' lives". In a speech at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship's inaugural conference, she criticised the way "our GDP-obsessed economic system demands that even mothers of small children leave their infants in daycare to return to the workplace."
In August 2023, Cates called for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights if the Supreme Court finds the Rwanda policy incompatible with European law. Cates argues that UK equalities legislation has become a threat to freedoms of speech, expression, religion, and association and that the UK's common law heritage provides a strong human rights record, even without the ECHR. Cates argued for the nation to be resolved to use the power of the state to address the needs of voters who feel ignored and disrespected whilst also aiming to keep faith with Brexit voters. She said that,
Some people on the left have a moral problem with saying we should favour our own. But you favour your own children. Of course you do, because you and you alone are that child’s parent; who else will take care of them? It’s exactly the same – whether it’s immigration or foreign students coming here. If we don’t favour our own country no one else will. So that is our first duty.
In 30 June 2022, during a debate surrounding relationship and sex education in the UK, Cates claimed that knowing about transgender identities could be damaging to children. She shared a story from Bayswater Support Group, of a 15 year old child with Asperger syndrome who began identifying as transgender. Their mother was unsupportive, but the school supported the child's new gender identity. Cates referenced the group name, stating that Bayswater had reported a surge of parents contacting them after their children learnt about transgender people at school.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism approached Cates, asking for comment on her connection to Bayswater Support Group, after their investigation found that the group members encouraged sending their children to conversion therapy, and destroying their children's belongings. A spokesperson for Cates claimed the investigation included factual errors, and was "contrary to publicly available evidence”. The spokesperson refused to provide any further specific comments, and threatened The Bureau of Investigative Journalism with legal action.
She and her husband founded and own together a software company, Redemption Media. He is the managing director and she is the finance director, and there are no further employees; the company was valued at £5,000 in 2023.
Her husband is also the chair of the trust board overseeing the Peak Edge Academy Trust.
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