Government expected to hold Protocol bill while DUP continues Stormont protest
It is expected the UK Government will confirm on Thursday it does not intend to bring forward the next stage of the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol bill.
UTV understands the government is not prepared to move to the second reading of the bill until the DUP agrees to restore devolution at Stormont.
However sources within the party have indicated that responding to pressure from the government would be a 'non starter'.
The EU on Wednesday restarted legal action against the UK Government over its plans to change the Protocol.
European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic said the UK's move had "no legal or political justification".
As well as new legal action for alleged failures to implement the Northern Ireland Protocol as it stands, Mr Sefcovic confirmed that existing infringement proceedings which had been paused while UK-EU talks took place would now be resumed.
And he indicated further measures could follow if the UK pressed ahead with the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which will effectively rip up key parts of the deal signed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the European Union in 2019.
The DUP has refused to form an Executive at Stormont in protest over the Protocol
"The Northern Ireland Protocol needs to be resolved," the party's MP Gavin Robinson told UTV on Wednesday.
"We think this legislation has the prospect of doing that and we've welcomed the introduction of this legislation but you cannot have a situation where the Executive be restored and ministers obliged to implement a Protocol that is causing harm to our country, damaging our constitutional position."
A spokesperson for the UK Government said it is "disappointing" that the EU has chosen to relaunch legal proceedings.
"The UK's preference remains for a negotiated solution but the proposals set out by the EU today are the same proposals we have been discussing for months and would not solve the problems - in many cases they take us backwards from current arrangements," they said.
Meanwhile Taoiseach Micheal Martin said the fresh legal action "represents a step up in a response from the European Union".
He went on: "That said, the European Union is still available and wants to bring a resolution to issues arising from the operations of the protocol through substantive negotiations with the United Kingdom Government.
"The only logical and rational way forward is, in my view, to commence these negotiations between the UK Government and the European Union, and I would appeal to the UK Government to engage in such negotiations."