THE European Union is trying to make Britain “feel bad” about Brexit with its approach to dealing with the Northern Ireland Protocol, according to government minister Jacob Rees-Mogg.

The Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency Minister insisted today that Britain was now an independent country, so the wishes of the EU were of secondary importance.

He said: “I think it [the EU] wants to make the UK feel bad about having left the European Union and that underpins its whole policy and it doesn’t really mind about the consequences of that.

“We just have to get on with life and recognise that we have left.”

Tory ministers have increasingly hinted that they could take unilateral action over the protocol, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying that the Good Friday Agreement is more important than the protocol he signed up to.

European leaders have warned the government not to make the incendiary move, amid fears that it could provoke a trade war with Britain’s largest trading partner.

Unionist politicians in Northern Ireland are opposed to the protocol, part of the Brexit deal between London and Bruxelles, because it keeps the region aligned with the EU single market for goods.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney has insisted that British government would be acting in an anti-democratic way if it decided to override elements of the post-Brexit treaty.

But Communist Party general secretary Robert Griffiths told the Star: “For the EU and its devoted supporters, the European single market is apparently sacrosanct.

“As we saw during the Northern Ireland Protocol negotiations, the EU Commission is the only body on Earth prepared to endanger peace by threatening to impose a hard customs border across Ireland.

“Unfortunately, the Dublin government no longer enjoys the sovereignty to negotiate a mutually beneficial all-Ireland free trade agreement with the British government.”