So it begins. In just 50 days’ time Britain will go to the polls and elect a new government to lead us through the most important political period in a generation. Everything is at stake right now. Our relationship with Europe, our border policies, our position on the world stage – voters will be given the chance to decide what kind of nation we want to be. Young people will live with the decisions made on 8 June for their entire lives, which is why Theresa May’s decision to avoid a televised debate on the challenges we face is so contemptible.

It’s clear that there are huge differences between the parties. Ranging from the little Englanders in Ukip and the Tories to a vision of an open and welcoming country from the Greens – any discussions will be certainly be robust.

But for people to get a serious sense of what each party stands for, politicians should be putting themselves up for debate – not cowering from it. With hundreds of thousands of people voting for the first time this year, it really is astonishing that the prime minister plans to chicken out of televised debates altogether. From a prime minister who says she wants to hand people back control, it’s truly disappointing to see such a blatant attempt to avoid scrutiny. May might theoretically respect proper debate, but in practice she appears to be more of a demagogue than she is a democrat.

If May seriously believes that she is Britain’s best choice for prime minister, then surely she should do the decent thing and debate with other party leaders on the big issues of the day.

Why might she be avoiding us? Could it be that she’s ashamed of overseeing an economy which is set to push 5 million children into poverty by 2020? Might she be worried that her reckless attitude towards our environment will be exposed? Or might a proper debate expose the fact that the wheels are already coming off the Brexit bus, as she pushes ahead with an extreme Brexit that simply wasn’t on the ballot paper last year?

Whatever her reasons, the prime minister’s refusal to engage her opponents in debate is shameful. It’s clear that the debates must go ahead anyway – that’s why I asked the other major party leaders if they’re up for “empty chairing” Theresa May and exposing her cowardice.

It’s now down to the broadcasters to follow ITV and make these debates happen – whether or not the prime minister turns up. Serious public discussion is a cornerstone of our democracy, and any move backwards on televised debates would be a betrayal for the millions people who want to see what the different parties have to offer at this seismic moment in our country’s history.

For first-time voters in particular it would a travesty if these debates didn’t happen – and I’ll be working with party leaders from across the political spectrum to ensure that young people aren’t denied the chance to properly scrutinise what we have to say.