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Use of the Chamber (Youth Parliament)

No, I will not give way. I have been very generous in giving way. One of my political mentors was a gentleman called Mr. Hogben. He was, I think, a leader writer for The Times, as well as being my British constitution teacher at school—we did not have politics in those days. He spotted in me and in other young people in our class an interest in the world around us, and he sought to develop and inspire it. He ensured that we came to the Chamber of this place, where I was privileged to see Barbara Castle tearing into the industrial relations legislation of the time. My teacher also took me to see Ralph Miliband at the politics society at Kingston; he nurtured my interest and my passion. I have to say that he, as a democrat, would be spinning in his grave if he had to listen to some of the arguments being put forward today to shut young people out of this place. We should be doing everything we can to inspire the next generation of democratic representatives. We should vote in favour of this motion, because it is called progress.