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The chairman of the Commons committee looking into the part-privatisation of the Royal Mail today questioned whether the sell-off would be limited to a 30 per cent stake.
Peter Luff, chairman of the business and enterprise committee, told the BBC that he was "sceptical" about the government's intentions.
The Conservative MP also suggested that the 30 per cent share would not be the "end game" for a private partner.
And he said that none of the witnesses had been able to justify the figure.
"We are very sceptical about this figure of 30 per cent which we say will not be an end game," Luff told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"We strongly suspect that the shareholder agreement, which will be confidential and not available to Parliament, will spell out a route map to something much more than 30 per cent in the long term.
"No one we have spoken to has been able to provide any justification for a 30 per cent stake. Everyone has said that it must lead onto something more, something different."
He called for the government to halt plans to sell-off part of the Royal Mail until it has explained what the deal involves.
And the committee chairman suggested that the government had brought a "non-negotiable package" before the House of Commons.
"We are saying that those questions have to be answered before the House of Commons can possibly do a second reading of the Bill," he said.
"Unless we know how much the sale will raise and what will be done with the proceeds, how can we know whether the government's vision for Royal Mail is right or not?
"I don't think that the committee has any problems at all with the concept of a strategic partner.
"But what that strategic partner would be was not spelt out in the original report, the Hooper report, which led to the government's proposals.
"Where the government got this 30 per cent stakeholder idea from, we simply don't know."
On Tuesday, the government's plans came under attack in the cross-party committee for their "lack of transparency".
"Parliament is being asked to swap an existing system where it approves every share sale in Royal Mail, for one where it gives up these powers in return for a guarantee that the public's shareholding will always be over 50 per cent," Luff told the committee.
But business secretary Lord Mandelson, who was giving evidence, told the MPs: "We always take select committee reports seriously. But it's a pity the committee did not take the opportunity to show a sense of vision of the opportunities and future for Royal Mail but has instead taken a lowest common denominator approach.
"This, of course, bridges the differing positions in the committee but does nothing to secure a viable future for Royal Mail."
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd