Ireland is pushing for a settled “legal text” over the border question as early as next month in a move that threatens once again to derail the Brexit negotiations, The Telegraph has learnt.

Simon Coveney, Ireland’s minister for foreign affairs and trade, is understood to have made Dublin’s uncompromising position clear to British counterparts, putting further pressure on Theresa May to make hard decisions on the future relationship between Ireland and the United Kingdom.

It comes as leaked European Commission documents show that Brussels intends to punish Britain if it refuses to submit to EU law during the Brexit transition period by stripping British businesses of their access to the single market.

The Irish border will be one of the items on the agenda when the Prime Minister’s inner Brexit war cabinet convenes on Wednesday morning for the first of two meetings this week to try to agree the Government’s position over Britain’s future relationship with Europe.

The pressure from Ireland threatens to unravel the delicate diplomatic text over the Irish border question that was orchestrated in December following three days of intense talks between London, Dublin and Brussels.