On Monday, Brussels warned the UK to “reduce the rhetoric“, insisting it would not renegotiate the post-Brexit trade deal for Northern Ireland, fearing Britain was bracing for unilaterally tear up the agreement.

The Democratic Unionist Party said it would refuse to join a new executive in Northern Ireland after the Stormont election last week until the Northern Ireland Protocol, which introduced controls on certain goods between the Great Britain and region, be amended.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis was in Belfast on Monday for talks with political leaders aimed at restoring the Assembly which was collapsed by the DUP in February.

But while some more hawkish Cabinet ministers are pushing the UK to abandon the protocol now, European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic has made it clear that while Brussels is ready for further talks on resolving the deadlock, any solution would have to be found within the framework of the existing treaty.

“We have already shown a lot of flexibility in proposing impactful and sustainable solutions and we are ready to continue the discussions.

“We need the UK government to cut back on the rhetoric, be honest about the deal they signed and agree to find solutions within its framework. The UK should show real resolve and good faith to make the protocol work, rather than looking for ways to erode it,” he said.

While the government is not expected to introduce a bill scrapping the protocol in Tuesday’s Queen’s Speech, a government source described the EU’s admission that it will not get a new mandate to renegotiate the protocol. as “alarming”, adding that the current proposals on the table in Brussels do not address the problems in Northern Ireland.

The DUP says the new trade border in the Irish Sea is hurting business in the region and undermining ties between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

With nationalist Sinn Fein becoming the biggest party in Stormont for the first time in the region’s history, giving it the right to choose Northern Ireland’s premier, unionists also fear they will soon have to fight to prevent a border ballot on the unification of Ireland.

Universities minister Michelle Donelan insisted on Monday the government’s priority was to find “a workable solution”, but added nothing was off the table when asked if the UK could take unilateral action to suspend or abandon the protocol. “We have been very clear – our priority is to resolve protocol issues,” she said.

But EU Ambassador to the UK Joao Vale de Almeida added on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Let’s be clear, we are not ready to renegotiate an international treaty that we signed there. just a few years ago.”