A no-deal Brexit would cause GDP (gross domestic product) to shrink by up to 8 per cent and put thousands of jobs at risk according to the Confederation of British Industry's (CBI) chief Carolyn Fairbairn.

The business body has warned that Brexit would have profound economic consequences on the UK and has urged MPs to back Theresa May's deal.

The group described the deal as a 'solution' businesses can work with as it delivers a transition period and avoids a 'hugely damaging cliff edge'.

It highlighted that if parliament does not agree with Mrs May then it must immediately outline its plan to avert a no deal and secure British jobs.

CBI Director General, Carolyn Fairbairn believes MPs should back Theresa May's Brexit deal

With the deadline looming for parliamentary approval for the Prime Minister's deal, the CBI is now piling on the pressure to avert a no deal outcome, which it believes would be a disaster for Britain.

In a speech on Friday, it's director general, Carolyn Fairbairn is set to call on MPs to 'safeguard the security and prosperity of our country' and put jobs and the economy ahead of politics when they vote on Tuesday.

At a meeting of business leaders in Bristol Fairbairn will say: 'Next week, they [MPs] face a test. If they meet it with yet more brinkmanship, the whole country could face a no-deal, disorderly Brexit. The economic consequences would be profound, widespread and lasting. GDP would decline by up to 8%, meaning less money for our public services and those who rely on them.

Carolyn Fairbairn has urged MPs to back Theresa May (pictured above) and put the country before politics

'Businesses would face new costs and tariffs. Our ports would be disrupted, separating firms from the parts they need to supply their customers', The Guardian reported.

Her plea comes just one day after the car industry revealed its Brexit woes, with the chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover, Ralf Speth having said the company's liquidity would be at stake in a no-deal scenario.

On Thursday 10 January Speth said the deal was 'not perfect' but that it was important to avert disaster.

He said the company could not stockpile the 25 million components it uses on its UK production lines every day.

'If I miss one part, I cannot produce one car and that means [for] a stoppage of about one day I miss about £80m to £100m,' he told the BBC.

Asked if it could result in the company closing, he said: 'Can you imagine if you have losses of £80m to £100m a day, how long the liquidity of the company will last?'

Carolyn Fairbairn (pictured above) has previously said the Brexit deal was 'not perfect'

This is while Honda announced that it would put production on hold for six days in April due to Brexit and the delays it could cause on the Dover-Calais freight route.

With the future of the country at stake, Fairbairn said that the deal was 'too big a gamble to simply hope that parliament 'will blink at the brink'.

The UK has not yet left the European Union and the consequences of the Brexit impasse are already pushing through domestic borders.

Small to medium-sized businesses have already said they are struggling to cope while farmers have warned they could be hit by a six-month export ban to the EU.

The CBI currently represents most of Britain's biggest businesses and has been warning of the uncertainty over the future of Britain's relationship with the EU since the referendum in 2016.

Just last month it told MPs that businesses were already triggering no-deal contingency plans with hundreds of millions of pounds of investment being relocated out of the UK.

The CBI fears that MPs who intend to vote against May's deal do not grasp the consequences of failing to agree a Brexit plan.

During the speech she will also criticise MPs and other public figures who have blamed the nation's problems on migrants and will say that the idea that 'businesses turn to foreign labour because they are too lazy to invest in workers here' is a 'myth that has been gaining currency'.

'I hear politicians say it who should know better – and pull them up on it every time – because it couldn't be more wrong.'

She is set to urge the government to rethink its post-Brexit immigration policy which discriminated against low-income workers who she says 'harvest our food, build our homes, care for us in our hospitals and [in] our old age'.

Fairbairn will also address businesses and ask them to 'speak up' and tell the nation about the 'scale of overseas workers' contribution' and not let lies take hold. 'It is up to us,' she will tell business leaders in the audience, 'to explain.'