Under this new staged approach, the UK will still push to resolve issues with customs and border checks in the province, which are fuelling trade disruption with Great Britain, but on the proviso that Brussels agrees to discuss the ECJ in the future.

However, the EU has already ruled out calls for more talks, with Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission vice president, stating on Friday that the ECJ had an “irreplaceable role”, before adding: “The topic we are not ready to include in our discussions”.

On Friday, sources familiar with the high-level discussions in Cabinet told this newspaper that Mr Sunak raised alarm over the potential implications on the economy if the UK were to spark a major confrontation with the EU before Christmas.

One source told The Telegraph on Friday that Mr Sunak had advocated a “softer approach”, while a second said his position had been to kick the major confrontation over the ECJ into the “long grass”.

Another said that the Chancellor did not share the same sense of “urgency” as others in Cabinet over the need to address issues with the protocol.

His representations are understood to have been made during a fractious period in the negotiations, when EU sources were issuing fresh warnings of a trade war should the UK trigger Article 16 and suspend parts of the protocol.

France was also threatening to adopt a “go-slow” approach at the border in the run up to Christmas, in a move that risked exacerbating problems with global supply chains.

Other government insiders insisted that Mr Sunak had not been seeking to question the UK’s negotiating objective.

“There’s no disagreement about the issues that exist,” one said. “It was just ‘now is not the time to blow it up over the ECJ and we should wait a bit longer’.”

The Treasury declined to comment when approached.

Talks expected to continue until February

The Telegraph understands that the talks on the protocol are now likely to continue for up two months into the new year, with UK sources suggesting that the end of February is now the cut-off point.

One said that securing an agreement by then was crucial, as it would coincide with the beginning of the campaigning period for the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election.

Mr Sefcovic launched a bill on Friday to change EU law to allow the UK medicines regulator to authorise drugs for use in Northern Ireland, which continues to follow EU pharma rules after Brexit.

Separately, Paris will ask Brussels to start litigation against Britain over a long-running dispute on fishing licences, France’s European affairs minister said.

Britain agreed to issue an additional 23 licences to French fishermen on Saturday, but France believes it is entitled to around 80 more UK licences.

A UK government spokesperson said: “Our approach to licensing has been reasonable and entirely in line with the TCA. We have licensed vessels where sufficient evidence has been provided to demonstrate they qualify for access under the TCA. Where that evidence has not been provided, licences have not been issued.”