The UK has rejected EU plans aimed at reducing the impact of the post-Brexit treaty for Northern Ireland, saying they would make things worse. The EU claims the proposals would reduce paperwork and checks on goods entering NI from Great Britain. But the government says they would "worsen the current trading arrangements". The UK verdict is part of an escalating dispute which could soon see the government scrapping parts of the deal. The protocol is an issue under fresh scrutiny following elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The elections cemented a majority for assembly members who accept the protocol, including the new largest party, the republican party Sinn Féin. But the second largest party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), said it would not nominate ministers to form a new executive in Northern Ireland until its concerns with the protocol were resolved. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said, in a statement released on Tuesday night, that her preference had always been for a "negotiated solution" but that she would not shy away from "taking action to stabilise the situation in Northern Ireland if solutions cannot be found". A source close to Ms Truss said she believed the current situation could not "drag on", with the foreign secretary now eyeing domestic legislation to start scrapping parts of the treaty. The post-Brexit arrangement for Northern Ireland, known as the Protocol, is a special Brexit deal for Northern Ireland designed to prevent the return of a hard land border with the Republic of Ireland. It was agreed between the UK and the EU in 2019, put into domestic law by the UK Parliament and came into force in January 2021. It works by keeping Northern Ireland inside the EU's single market for goods. This means Northern Ireland continues to follow some EU laws and there are new checks and paperwork for goods which are imported into Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK. The EU acknowledges that it has caused difficulties for Northern Ireland businesses and its October proposals were an attempt to ease that burden. At the time, its chief negotiator, Maroš Šefčovič, said it was a "robust package of creative, practical solutions". Much of that package concerned food products which are subject to the greatest level of new checks. The EU said it would mean inspections of food products would be reduced far below what is usually required at single-market borders. However, the plan came with caveats and the UK said the EU needed to do more. But this government statement amounts to a public rejection of what the EU was proposing. It focuses on the fact that grace periods mean the protocol is not being fully implemented. It says if the grace periods were replaced with the EU proposals, the checks and controls would increase, and these plans would lead to "everyday items disappearing off the shelves".