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Never before has a government suffered as crushing defeat at the hands of Parliament as this week.

Never before has Parliament been so deadlocked on a major decision for so long.

Never in my life time have i seen the country as divided as we are now And never has the breakdown of trust been the political Establishment and the people been so great.

Even now Parliament seems incapable of breaking this deadlock it has created.

The improvisations now being mooted - tweaking failed negotiations with the equivalent of new commas and crossed t’s here and there – look doomed to fail.

For there is no parliamentary majority, not only for any amended version of Theresa May’s deal but for other options.

(Image: REUTERS)

Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures and we should now do what we should have done right at the outset – bring the British people back into this debate.

In a recent poll 48% agreed with - and few dissented from - the proposition: ‘Politicians clearly cannot decide how to resolve the issue of Brexit and the country is deeply divided - therefore it would be better to pause the process and seek a consensus by gathering ordinary people together to discuss the options’.

So I propose we negotiate with Europe to extend Article 50 for one year, not as a delaying tactic, but for a purpose - that we agree, and the European Union accepts, a unique democratic innovation — the convening of nationwide citizens‘ assemblies.

Stage one would be extending our negotiating period by one year.

Stage two would be a consultation in each UK region and nation, sponsored by Parliament’s Select Committees if not the Government, to review the problems revealed by Brexit including immigration and sovereignty.

Stage three would be a Parliamentary review of the results taking the issues back into parliament after hearing from the people.

Depending on the results, this would be followed by stages four and five, Parliament agreeing to a renegotiation with the EU.

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

As as someone who spent years in government negotiating with them I am sure they would, in the end, accept this and then, if it is established that the situation has changed, giving the British people the right to the final say.

Citizens’ national assemblies are not wholly new. They have been tried successfully from California to Australia, from Scandinavia and to New Zealand and most recently in Ireland.

The Irish abortion referendum could have been an embittered and desperate fight to the finish dominated by extremists of both sides and by lurid claims and counterclaims.

But because a representative group of 99 – roughly half pro abortion, half against - talked through the issues over six weekends, exploring differences, asking questions of experts and interacting with each other on their fears and hopes, they managed to calm the debate and find some common ground.

Snap Brexit poll - How would you vote in a second referendum? YouGov - 1,000 UK adults

And their change of mind - in the end two thirds for and one third against - defused the controversy and helped fashion a referendum result of similar proportions that astonished the world and that everyone accepted.

Precisely because Parliament has now reached an impasse, citizens’ assemblies offer a fresh opportunity for it to hear how representative groups of citizens across all regions and nations think unity can be restored.

Assemblies would bring together representative groups of 100 or so people in each region and nation, provide an outlet by which issues such as jobs, the control of our laws, migration and money, and the NHS can be debated and options for improvement worked through.

The all-party Commons select committees, each of which contain pro and anti-Brexit MPs, could agree to fund these public hearings to listen to the views of the British people on the burning Brexit issues.

Freed from the more narrow 'Yes/No' choices we have in elections and referenda, there would be a free-ranging discussion.

Members could interrogate leaders and experts of all descriptions.

Each group would start with one Brexit voter for every Remain voter and then see what happened by the end of a day’s discussions.

Their deliberations could be televised so the rest of the public can see how the arguments shape up and whether a consensus can be agreed

The key to rebuilding trust lies in continuously listening to the British people. And Europe will back us if we show them that we are now putting in place an in-depth popular consultation based on solid facts that the electorate can assess.

Yes, it is an extraordinary measure but we are in uncharted waters without a map, a compass and even life jackets.

And so it is an initiative we must take towards us achieving a far more united country - a United Kingdom that is not just united in name only.