Arlene Foster hopes welfare impasse does not lead to collapse of the assembly

Arlene Foster said she did not want to see the assembly break down

Finance Minister Arlene Foster has said she hopes the current impasse over social welfare does not lead to the collapse of the assembly.

The Welfare Reform Bill is due before the assembly on Tuesday, despite no agreement between Sinn Féin and the DUP.

Sinn Féin withdrew its support for the bill in March.

Mrs Foster told the BBC's Inside Business programme she did not want to see the assembly break down.

"I hope that it doesn't happen and that if it comes to the fact that the welfare reform bill falls, that the government will step in and legislate for welfare in Northern Ireland, because if they don't we will continue to have a huge hole in our budget," she said.

"It would just be unacceptable to the community in Northern Ireland for us to implement that budget because it would be a budget with cuts which would be unimaginable, we just would not be able to support that."

On Friday, SDLP leader Alasdair McDonnell said his party would not be bounced into an artificial deadline on welfare reform.

The party's 14 MLAs have signed a petition of concern on the measure.

Combined with the 28 signatures already collected by Sinn Féin, the SDLP move means the welfare reform bill will be blocked as it will not get the necessary cross community support.

On Thursday, the BBC saw a document in which Ms Foster outlined the financial crisis facing the Northern Ireland Executive.

Her paper, obtained by the Nolan Show, was circulated to other executive ministers.

In it, she said no deal on welfare would mean the executive having to make cuts of £604m in order to balance its books.

Mrs Foster said health could lose £280m and education £114m.

A so-called black hole would be created because loans offered in the Stormont House Agreement depend on the welfare issue being resolved.

Arlene Foster's interview was broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster's Inside Business at 13:30 BST on Sunday 24 May.