"• French President Emmanuel Macron could introduce extra checks for lorries 
• He may do this to pressure Britain into paying a £39bn Brexit divorce bill 
• Chaos could force British factories under and leave food produce rotting
France will deliberately disrupt British imports and exports through Calais if the UK leaves the EU without a deal, a Cabinet minister has claimed. 
French President Emmanuel Macron could introduce extra checks for lorries taking parts to British factories and trucks taking British food into Europe, causing major delays and disruption.
He may do this to pressure Britain into paying a £39bn Brexit divorce bill, the anonymous minister said. 
In a presentation to Cabinet yesterday, Home Secretary Sajid Javid said that French border police could cause huge traffic delays by asking every driver their reason for travel.
This would add an extra 50 seconds to the usual 25-second checking time on each truck, causing miles of tailbacks.  
The chaos could force British factories out of business and leave food produce rotting at the border.
This means that no matter how well Britain prepares for a no deal Brexit, the country is powerless to stop massive disruption if France wishes it. 
A Cabinet minister told The Sun: 'We can spend whatever we want to prepare on our side of the channel, but we are completely powerless to compel the French to do the same, and that is a very serious vulnerability for us.
'There is simply no alternative to Dover for just-in-time manufacturers or food exporters, and they together support a significant number of jobs.
'It would do northern French a lot of damage too, and really decimate Ireland, but we expect President Macron will initially attempt some heavy disruption in Calais to turn the screw on us to pay up.'   
It comes after MailOnline revealed that more than 10,000 lorries could be parked in Kent to cater for queues of trucks heading for France in event of a no-deal Brexit.
First lorries would be parked at Dover, Manston Airport and the M20. 
Dover has room for 1,720, Manston Airport near Margate, which has been purchased by the Department for Transport, could fit 4,000 and 4,500 could be parked on the M20 - as happened when 'Operation Stack' was triggered in 2015.
This means that more than 10,000 HGVs would already be stationary in one of southeast England's most-farmed counties. 
Highways England told MailOnline: 'As part of wider resilience planning, Highways England has been asked by the Department for Transport to develop plans to utilise the M26 to hold heavy goods vehicles, should further capacity be required in the future.
'We will be undertaking site surveys on the M26 during October leading to the installation of two gates in the central reservation to support the safe management of freight in the future, if needed.'
This suggests one carriageway could be converted to a lorry park while the gates would allow for a contraflow system to keep the other side moving both ways. 
Road Haulage Association chief executive Richard Burnett warned traffic jams of that length would mean trips became unprofitable.
He said: 'Last year 2.6million trucks passed through the port of Dover with another 1.6million travelling to mainland Europe through the Channel Tunnel and their passage through borders has been frictionless.
'If border controls include full customs procedures, with each truck taking potentially, 45 minutes to check, the number of HGVs caught up in the resulting tailbacks will be massive.
'Turning motorways into car parks won't help. It'll just mean more congestion and more pollution. An HGV driver could be stuck in a queue for 15 hours or more with no access to toilet facilities, water or food.
'If the Garden of England becomes the lorry park of England, the repercussions will be a disaster for the people of Kent and the entire economy.'
Initial preparatory work to use the M26 as a lorry park started on October 10, with the motorway repeatedly closed at night last week. 
Brexit breakthrough? EU 'set to offer May a UK-wide customs deal' in a bid to solve the Irish border issue and unblock the crunch talks 
By Kate Ferguson 
Hopes there could be a breakthrough in Brexit talks were raised on Tuesday amid reports the EU has offered a compromise to try to unblock the stalled talks.
Brussels will reportedly offer Theresa May a UK-wide customs union in a bid to get around the thorny Irish border issue - which has stopped a negotiation being thrashed out.
Under the proposal, the EU Withdrawal Agreement would contain a legal article pledging the commitment of Brussels to a UK wide deal.
But it will say the commitment would need its own separate legal agreement to enshrine it.
However, the EU will still insist that a Northern Ireland backstop stays in place - effectively creating a 'backstop to the backstop', according to the report on RTE.
Mrs May has repeatedly flatly ruled out this proposal - saying that this would allow the EU to hive off Northern Ireland and slap a border down the Irish Sea.
She said this is a plan which is totally unpalatable and which no British Prime Minister can ever accept.
While the small but powerful Northern Irish DUP party - whose ten MPs are propping the Tories up in Downing Street - have also slammed the proposal.
They have said it would cross their 'blood red' line and warned they could topple the Government if it wavers on its opposition.
Speaking in the Commons yesterday, where she updated MPs on the crunch talks, Mrs May said the divorce deal was 95 per cent finished.
And she hailed a 'substantive' shift from the EU to ensure the so-called Irish backstop is UK-wide and not Northern Ireland only.
Outlining the remaining issues, Mrs May said Britain needed agreement the Irish backstop would be UK wide.
She said she wanted the option to extend transition to avoid ever using the backstop if a trade deal is close in late 2020.
Mrs May said neither the backstop or extended transition period could be never ending - and vowed in all circumstances Northern Ireland's business would get guarantees on full access to the UK markets.
In her speech, Mrs May told MPs 'the shape of the deal across the vast majority of the Withdrawal Agreement is now clear.' "