Michael Fallon leaves after attending a cabinet meeting in Downing Street in 2017 | Carl Court/Getty Images Tory fight over Brexit plan to use motorway as ‘parking lot’ Plans are ‘deeply disappointing and wholly unacceptable.’

A former U.K. Cabinet minister said today that plans to turn a motorway into a “parking lot” for lorries to prevent traffic chaos in the event of a no-deal Brexit were “deeply disappointing and wholly unacceptable.”

Michael Fallon, who was defense secretary until 2017 and whose constituency in Kent contains the M26 motorway where the work is taking place, has written to Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, urging him to "reconsider these plans and meet me at the earliest opportunity to find an alternative solution."

According to Politics Home, Fallon wrote: "As you will be aware, much of the M26 lies in my constituency. It is therefore deeply disappointing and wholly unacceptable to hear of plans to close it.

"Whilst I appreciate the need for contingency planning for a no-deal Brexit, any measures must take into consideration the views of MPs and residents before they are implemented."

As first reported by POLITICO on Thursday, the plan, which was not disclosed to local councilors or MPs until hours before work began on Wednesday, will see the M26 closed overnight for more than a month in the run-up to Christmas while the roadworks take place.

Fears that a no-deal scenario would lead to major delays at the port of Dover for freight crossing the Channel, because of the need for customs and regulatory checks, have led the government to implement major works on motorways near the port. Under the plan confirmed by Grayling on Thursday, the M26 will become a holding area for hundreds of lorries to allow traffic to move more freely on other roads.