Young people on a par with prisoners in Parliament debate

I have just written a story about MPs voting to allow the UK Youth Parliament to sit in the House of Commons last night. Having ploughed my way through the full Hansard debate I felt I must share some of the choicer contributions by MPs that I didn't have room for in the story (which is still probably a bit too long).

Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con) expressed his concerns at how the UK Youth Parliament might behave if they were allowed through the hallowed doors of the chamber (where, incidentally, a girl from my primary school was once sick when we went on a tour of the building). Cherry picking madly from a report of the last UKYP sitting, he read out extracts like "the crowd competed ferociously to give their regional rep the loudest cheers!"  to give the impression that a sitting of the UKYP is comparable to a gathering of over-excited holiday reps. He didn't seem to countenance the idea that the young people might adapt their event to their surroundings.