The UK Youth Parliament is set to use the House of Commons Chamber over the summer recess, despite opposition from some MPs. Quite how they can object to it, I don’t know.

The Commons Chamber sits unused for so much of the time – whenever MPs are on any of their extremely long holidays – and is the most underused room in the country. So why shouldn’t it be put to use when it can be, and there is a damn good reason for it?

The Chamber shouldn’t be used for party political meetings because that sends out the wrong signal. But using it for the Youth Parliament will not do what Christopher Chope is claiming and send a message either that there is is a similarity between a “mock parliament and a real parliament” or that MPs are “patronising young people in an unhealthy way”. Rather, the opposite is true.

There is no chance of people mistaking the Youth Parliament for the real thing – the age gap, for one. Plus the youths may well be more intelligent. We need to get more young people interested in politics, and letting them in to the hallowed chamber of the House of Commons is a good way to start.