Theresa May wants a blindfold Brexit. Her deal means leaving the EU without being able to see what our future relationship will be. I can’t support that and it’s one of the reasons why the deal won’t get through Parliament next week. But nor can we agree to no-deal. If the Prime Minister keeps ploughing on, we are heading into a full-blown constitutional crisis as well as Brexit chaos. So it’s time for Parliament to take back control.

The truth is the Prime Minister’s deal isn’t really a deal at all; it’s a stopgap. When the transition runs out, we don’t know what our trading relationship will be. The non-binding Political Declaration on the future partnership was supposed to tell us the answer but it’s a complete fudge. Ministers admit it includes a wide spectrum of possible outcomes for the checks and controls our manufacturers and traders will face. Depending on which paragraph you read, it could mean nearly Norway, back to Chequers, off to Canada or far beyond.

On security, things aren’t much clearer. There’s little clue to what our new relationship will be with Europol, no clarity on future arrest warrants, and the EU refused to even include in the Political Declaration any reference to the crucial SIS2 European criminal database, which our police and border force currently use 500 million times a year. Without these measures, the police say our country is less safe.

The Prime Minister is asking us to walk out the door now and slam it behind us with no idea where we are going. Yet leaving with so few assurances, and with so much of the real substance still to be resolved, just weakens our negotiating position. That’s not in the national interest whatever you think our future relationship with Europe should be. Parliament is being expected to trust May to magically sort everything with the EU later on.

But that’s hard when May has done so little to build trust or confidence so far.

Remember: the Prime Minister didn’t consult anyone on her red lines; tried to stop Parliament voting on the negotiating objectives, Article 50, or the final deal; and tried to keep impact assessments secret. Today she is still refusing to publish the full legal advice, despite a direction from Parliament. The Prime Minister asked the country for a mandate to do Brexit in her own way in the 2017 election and didn’t get one. But when the electorate returned a hung Parliament to oversee the Brexit deal, instead of building a cross-party approach she just carried on as if nothing had changed.

With such a divided country, finding the best way forward was never going to be easy. But there was no attempt to reach out to Remain voters and no attempt to manage the expectations of Leave voters. The result is that everyone feels let down. So with MPs from all sides expected to vote the Prime Minister’s deal down next week, what happens next?

The only requirement on the Government is to produce a follow-up statement within 21 days on the way forward — effectively setting out their plan B. But under the Government’s legislation we aren’t allowed a meaningful vote for or against the new plan and we can’t amend it, even if it includes leaving with no deal. That is ludicrous.

Instead Parliament needs its voice back — and we should start by ruling out a deeply damaging no-deal. A Yorkshire company I visited this weekend told me how worried it was that the price of its main imported ingredients would double in April if we end up crashing out on World Trade Organisation terms. The Bank of England has estimated that the shock from sudden new tariffs, controls, checks and delays could cause a deeper recession than the global financial crisis.

"The PM is asking us to walk out of the door of the EU now and slam it behind us with no idea where we are going"

It would also mean an immediate loss of security co-operation — letting criminals evade trial and losing vital security information at the border. Knowing May for more than 20 years, I don’t believe she is the kind of Prime Minister who will in the end let no-deal happen. She takes the security and economic risks seriously. But I also don’t think we can afford to take the chance.

That is why I am supporting Hilary Benn’s amendment next week, co-signed with fellow chairs of cross-party parliamentary committees. It opposes the Prime Minister’s deal, rules out no-deal, and then gives Parliament the power to amend and decide on the Government’s follow-up plans.

It’s also why I believe Article 50 should now be extended so that ministers, Parliament, the country and the EU can pause for breath and rethink all the options. This is a mess and we are going to need enough time to sort it out. Meanwhile, we need to urgently lift the pressure off businesses, organisations and Government departments who will otherwise have to start throwing everything at preparing for no-deal in March.

The Prime Minister’s go-it-alone approach has failed to unite the country, get us a good deal or clarify our future. Parliament can’t just stand by and let that happen. That is why I hope MPs from all parties will come together to back Benn’s amendment as the first step to finding a more sensible way forward now.