For my contribution, I want to give a very personal rather than a legal or even a political take on this, really, in terms of what we're considering today.

I reflect back now on when I stood for election to this Senedd in 2016 and, really, all I was hoping for was that my life experiences would bring something to this institution and that I could do my little bit to make life for my constituents—that I'd later be elected to represent—just that little bit better. Not once did it cross my mind that less than four years later I'd be in this Chamber debating legislation that would give emergency powers to our Government in the face of a public health emergency. But here we are. And the speed at which this has moved has been quite frightening.

I was reflecting on when I first heard of coronavirus, and there was general news coverage about the events in China—that that didn't really strike us as being a reason to refocus on our business here. And then I recall I was at a social gathering in January, and there were a lot of us there—a lot of friends together—and we were having a bit of banter about the virus and whether we'd all need to get masks, because there were a number of us in the room, including me, that had the usual coughs and sneezes of our winter colds. We all laughed about it; we just didn't take it seriously. I think it's fair to say none of us are laughing now.

On Friday of last week, I decided to close my office in Merthyr Tydfil, both as a precaution for my constituents, who visit my office in quite significant numbers, but also to protect my staff that I employ to work in that office. As I locked the office on Friday evening, taking with me all the bits and bobs that I'd need to work from home, I was suddenly hit by the enormity of what we're facing—leaving that office and not knowing when we were going to be going back, and then, when I got home, realising that I couldn't even organise online shopping for my 81-year-old mother, who lives alone some miles away from me, because all the slots had been taken for weeks ahead, and, finally, feeling hugely emotional that I have no idea when I'm going to be able to cwtch my six-month-old grandson again, or when I'm going to be able to see my sons and their partners or my mum or my family or my in-laws and my friends, and knowing that some of those are in vulnerable categories, and not knowing what the weeks ahead are going to bring.

As I said earlier in my contribution to the First Minister's statement, from where I live, I can see the Tesco car park in Merthyr Tydfil, and I've watched in amazement and some considerable discomfort the crowds going in and out, ignoring advice on social distancing, panic buying and stockpiling. All these things tell me that we have to do more. We have to now give powers to Government to enforce behaviours that, unfortunately, some people are refusing to comply with voluntarily. The advice has been issued, and that's been done for a reason: to try and save lives. So, I support giving our Government these powers, the tools that they will need to do a job at speed, to take action to try and help bring this crisis to an end, and I thank them for everything that they've done so far, for the difficult decisions to make under the most difficult of circumstances.

I also have insufficient words to thank those on the front line providing emergency responses. I cannot imagine the pressures that they are under now, trying to cope, but they do, and they are delivering for us as they always do.

No more do I want to hear nostalgic references to wartime spirit. We are not at war, but we are in the battle of our lives. We are not dodging bombs from planes, but we are dodging each other, because we are now the bombs. Dirprwy Lywydd, we do this because we all hope to get back to normality soon. We all want to be able to hold our loved ones again and see our friends. Our value of such simple pleasures might even increase dramatically when we look back on this time. To do that, albeit that this is a temporary measure, I'm prepared to make the most difficult decision that anyone should have to make in a democracy, a decision that I had never contemplated in 2016. But I will therefore be supporting these measures that will give our Government the powers it may need to bring this crisis to an end as soon as possible, but also knowing that ending this crisis may well not be in the immediate future.