Angry clash in House of Commons during trans debate

Conservative MP Miriam Cates and Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle were at loggerheads over trans rights during a debate on the government's decision to prevent the Scottish government passing a law making it easier for people in Scotland to self-identify their gender.

Miriam Cates said she had recently been in a bathroom in a restaurant when a "man dressed as a woman walked into the toilets... he stood behind me and stared at me into the mirror, looking at me in my eyes".

She said her "evolved instinct as a woman was to be frightened".

Lloyd Russell-Moyle said her speech was "probably one of the worst transphobic, dog-whistle speeches that I've heard in an awful long time", adding that "linking trans people with predators, frankly, is disgusting".

18 January 2023