Diolch. I stand here at my final speech having spent the majority of my career in this Chamber. From being the youngest female Member of the Senedd, life has changed, because I leave you having campaigned passionately against injustices across my region and beyond. I leave you as a more mature person, who has made mistakes but has learned from them, as a woman still true to my principles, despite how hard that is to do in this game called politics, and as a proud new mam to Idris.

The Welsh Government are a self-proclaimed feminist Government, but we are far from achieving a feminist society, or even an equal one. Here I am, at night, having dropped my child off at childcare this morning, unable to say goodnight. This extends to all families. If we want politics to be truly representative, we have to go further to change our culture. The next Senedd must make it an early priority. Many people have said to me that my departure will be a loss for Wales. Others, probably not. But my choice, like so many new mothers, is one I feel I have been forced to make. As decision makers, we had the opportunity to take on the recommendations of the expert panel on Assembly electoral reform, but we are now seeing the fallout of taking the easy wins. Almost 20 years ago, Wales elected the first 50:50 gender equal Parliament, but, since 2003, it has been a continual rollback. A truly feminist Government is measured in deeds, not words. I had to campaign for my own maternity cover. We had no process in place for locum MSs. We could have been entering the next Senedd leading from the top on gender equality, job shares, diversity quotas. In an unprecedented time, when women fear our rights are rolling back to the 1970s because of the impact of the pandemic, this Parliament will end knowing it should have done more.

But I want to finish here on what I do best, in supporting those who need me to be their voice. So, I end with one final demand on behalf of the future generation of Wales. Despite the powerful debate that I tabled alongside Lynne Neagle and Leanne Wood, maternity restrictions in Wales are still in place. The Welsh Government created a risk assessment back in November, yet here we are in March and nothing has changed. But for a tiny minority, pregnant women are going through childbirth alone, without the support of a birth partner until the final, established stages of labour. So, on behalf of the fathers sleeping in cars and bus shelters so that they don't miss the birth of their child, the women suffering through miscarriage with no-one to hold their hand, the new mothers, like me, who after major surgery are checking out of hospital because we need our partner's support, and the babies, the ones without any voice who are suffering the most, end these restrictions. COVID-19 is very serious, but when the No. 1 cause of death of new mothers in the first year postnatally is suicide, protecting their mental health is also a matter of national importance. Take action, end these restrictions, and remind women and families in Wales that they have not been forgotten, that they do matter.

Diolch. Viva the Welsh republic.