AS expected the Government responded to last week’s High Court ruling with a simple and clear Bill that empowers the Prime Minister to trigger Article 50 and we have spent many hours in the Chamber this week debating the short bill and inevitably many of the broader Brexit questions facing us.

I spoke as we settled down for a late evening on Tuesday to acknowledge my full acceptance of the Referendum result but to point out that when compared to the amount of time and effort spent scrutinising the process of entering the Common Market, many MPs feel woefully ill-informed about the options that will emerge over the next two years.

To prepare for my speech I looked back at the opportunities given to my MP predecessor-but-one, Charles Morrison, who represented Devizes at the time of Britain joining the Common Market.

Between 1967, when the idea was mooted for the second time and serious talks started with other European countries, until the Referendum in 1975, there were six detailed Government White Papers, a manifesto commitment, multiple debates and many detailed government statements, meaning that when the Common Market question was finally put to the British people in 1975, there was a sense that the costs and benefits were at least known and could be quantified.

What was of course not predicted was the steady shift from an economic towards a political European model with the consequent erosion of sovereignty and control, but at least the shape of the deal, and the impact it would have on jobs and living standards, had been bashed out.

We are not in the same place at all as we face a barnstorming two years of Article 50 negotiations (which only cover the administrative points of our exit), as well as negotiate the shape of a trade deal with the EU – and understand what a backstop trade situation based on World Trade Organisation rules will look like if we don’t get a decent deal from Europe.

These are a huge set of negotiations and tasks to be carried out, with massive implications for prices, jobs and the economy, and so far we are without a White Paper or much detail on the plan.

While I want the process to succeed and applaud the trade deals that are already being lined up, it is my view that we must have a clear understanding of the costs and benefits of the deals on offer when the final package is put to a parliamentary vote in two years' time.