Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. We celebrated, yesterday, 20 years of this place as a parliament. The function of a parliament is to hold a government to account, and I am therefore profoundly disappointed to have just heard the Minister describe this serious and, I thought, on the whole very dignified debate as a political bun fight. I have to say to the Minister that if we wanted a political bun fight, we could have one on a weekly basis. We have not chosen to do so.

I am very grateful to the majority of Members who have contributed to this debate. I can’t possibly refer to all their contributions, but what we have seen across those contributions is a pattern, and I am profoundly disappointed that the Minister cannot see that pattern. He says that he is committed that what happened to the Cwm Taf families won’t happen to other families. Well, as we heard from Darren Millar, it is very, very similar to what happened to the Tawel Fan families.

The Minister said he would not be drawn into making comparisons. It is profoundly worrying that he does not see the commonalities. It is his failure to see those commonalities, and it is his failure to address those commonalities—the failure of management across the system, the failure to hold people to account—that has led to us bringing this motion before us today.

Now, Dawn Bowden rightly highlights some of the issues. She says that service improvement must deal robustly with individuals. I do not understand, on the evidence of today’s debate or last week’s statement, why she has that confidence. And I was touched by Vikki Howells's contribution. She obviously feels deeply what has happened to her constituents. She knows the impact that that’s had on her life. And yet, she thanks the Minister. She rightly highlights failures. She talks about the lack of action by the board. She talks about a wrong approach. Surely, those board members need to be held to account.

Now, Llywydd, I have known many Members on the Labour benches for many years, and I know them to be honourable people. And I know them to be loyal. But I feel I have to ask them today to whom their loyalty is due. Is it due to a Minister—and I should stress this is in no way personal—who has failed to understand the commonalities of the problems facing him, and failed to respond appropriately? Or is it due to their constituents, the people of Wales? I do not underestimate how difficult this must be for some of them, but it is our duty, as an opposition loyal to the people of Wales, to call upon them to reflect.

Yesterday I met—I've spoken to a number of families over the phone and by email, but yesterday I met a young father. He believes that his wife and his child would be dead if he hadn't happened himself to be a medical professional, and to be able to pick up on some of the issues that the service was failing to address. He had received first-class support from one of his local Assembly Members. She knows who she is. I will not name her. He said to me that he is grateful to us for speaking out because he does not believe that the service can change while the same people who dismissed his concerns, who belittled his wife, who mocked her while she was in labour, and who, when he raised concerns, eventually threatened him with legal action—he does not believe that while those same people are still in charge, that service would change. That young mother is expecting another child. She will not give birth to that child in Cwm Taf.

It is the duty of this Assembly to scrutinise Ministers and to hold them to account. It is what we are here to do. This was the point of the creation of this Assembly. This is what democracy is about. Now I think, Llywydd, we know how the vote is likely to go today. But I can say this to these families, to the Cwm Taf families: on these benches, we will not forget you. That was the message from the young father to me yesterday—please don't forget us. Don't forget what's happened. On these benches, we will not forget you, and if the Minister will not take his responsibility, then through the committee structures, through debates on the floor of this Chamber, through questions, we will continue to hold the Minister to account for the shocking experiences of those families and for those children gone.

The health committee will shortly undertake scrutiny of Cwm Taf on these matters, and I have sought assurances from the Chair that the voices of those families will be at the heart of that scrutiny. We will not listen to nonsense from unaccountable bureaucrats. We will take those families' voices to the Minister, and I'm grateful for the fact that he is intending to meet them, but I wonder how safe they will feel to be truly open and honest with him, faced with the complacency he's displayed last week and this.

It is with great regret, Llywydd, that I have felt the need to bring this debate to this Chamber. I would infinitely prefer that the Minister could see the systematic failures across the management of the system and be prepared to address them. He has told us today he will not do that. So it will come down to us, to the opposition in this place, to be the voice of those families—[Interruption.]—and I will happily take an intervention if anybody wishes to make one. No? I thought not.

I will end—