Boris Johnson has been accused of deliberately picking fights on Brexit with the European Union to distract from domestic scandals.
Keir Starmer claimed the Prime Minister wanted to draw attention away from scandals like the Owen Paterson lobbying affair by taking a belligerent approach to Brussels.
The Government has dramatically ramped up its rhetoric against the European Union in recent days with the fate of the Northern Ireland border hanging in the balance.
Brexit minister Lord Frost has warned that triggering Article 16 and suspending the Northern Ireland Brexit agreement was "on the table".
But the Labour leader warned that suspending parts of the Northern Ireland Brexit deal - designed to keep the border freely flowing - will not resolve the broader dispute.
He told the BBC : "There's a little bit of me that can't help think that the Prime Minister is constantly trying to pick a fight on things like this so he hopes people don't look elsewhere in the forest, which are things like the Owen Paterson affair."
Mr Starmer ruled out rejoining the EU or "ripping up" the current deal, instead arguing for "sensible adjustments" to be made to improve what is in place.
Labour has generally shied away from overtly criticising the Brexit deal after Mr Johnson used the issue to hammer the party in its traditional heartlands at the last general election.
But the party leader hammered the Government for its aggressive approach to the ongoing row with the EU over the border.
"I don't think that triggering Article 16 will resolve the dispute in relation to the protocol in Northern Ireland," he told the BBC's Andrew Marr.
"That isn't in the interests of the communities in Northern Ireland or businesses in Northern Ireland. What is in their interests is resolving the issues.
"Because of the way the protocol was drafted, because of what the Prime Minister signed, it is perfectly true that there are checks from Great Britain to Northern Ireland - we want to reduce those."
He added: "What I am saying is don't rip up the protocol because that has that very important central purpose, which is to protect the no border in Northern Ireland."
Mr Starmer said he wants to see "both sides sitting down and resolving this."
He said he wanted to "make Brexit work" when asked if he was prepared to renegotiate the deal to mitigate the predicted impact on economic growth.
The Office for Budget Responsibility, a UK fiscal watchdog, has suggested leaving the EU would reduce the UK's GDP by around 4%.
"It's all very well saying get Brexit done, we've got to make Brexit work," Mr Starmer said.
"In order to do that, we have got to deal with some of the gaps and weaknesses in the current arrangements."
The Labour leader said he would do "whatever I could to make it easier for British firms to trade across the world, but particularly with the EU".
He went on: "What I'm not talking about is rejoining the EU, what I'm not talking about is ripping up the current agreement and starting again - nobody wants to be in that place."
