Lord Hay tells Parliament that he backs Sir Jeffrey Donaldson's move back into Stormont saying that unionism must make devolution work

​Lord Hay, the former speaker of the Assembly who has been an elected party representative since the early 1980s, said it is easy to snipe from the sidelines – but when one is faced with the burden of leadership it comes with “difficult decisions”.

He told the House of Lords “I want devolution to succeed,” because “direct rule did not work”.

"We all know how direct rule worked in the past – we were there,” he said.

"We'd a direct rule minister flew into Northern Ireland, flew out of Northern Ireland, and made decisions over the heads of the people of Northern Ireland, with no accountability whatsoever.

"I do welcome the recent efforts with the government working alongside my party to find a way forward on the issues surrounding the NI Protocol and Windsor Framework, and I have to say: leadership is about making the difficult decisions. The difficult decisions.

"We all can stand on the sideline and make the easy decisions.

"But then when you're in the heat of the kitchen you have to make the decision, and I believe my party leader and my party was right to make the decision that was made to get back into the Assembly and work the Assembly.

"But it's work that is not finished – not finished.

"It is continuing to work with this government and keeping their feet to the fire on all of the issues tonight that have been mentioned.

"And let me say as well, for unionists to prosper in the decades to come, [there] must be inclusive unionism…

"We can get there by making Northern Ireland work as a full and equal part of this UK.

"The system of devolution in NI is far, far from perfect. In many areas, there needs to be improvement.

"But it'll also be on a basis that can command cross-community support.

"But the Stormont Assembly and Executive is accountable to the people of Northern Ireland... and we should now get on with the job and deliver for the people.”