According to Office for National Statistics figures published yesterday, two of the local authority areas in my region are first and second, respectively, in terms of the highest number of COVID deaths in Wales to date: 1,003 people from Rhondda Cynon Taf, 993 in Cardiff. With the additional 356 people from the Vale of Glamorgan, this is 2,352 people living in South Wales Central, 26 per cent of Wales's total deaths. And as Samuel Kurtz illustrated in his memories and reflections of Bob, behind each number and statistic is, of course, a person and their families and friends.

I wanted to speak today to represent the views of every bereaved person that has contacted me and shared with me their heartbreaking personal stories, and I'd like to thank them for their bravery in doing so. On 26 October, I was tagged in a tweet by a constituent. In the tweet were a series of photographs of her father and the following text: '55 years ago today, when my mum met my dad. Married for 54 of them, only to be without him three weeks and at the end. No contact or goodbye, no "I love you". This is why we need a Wales inquiry. Their story started and ended in Wales. For me, it's not about blame, it's about acknowledging him.'

I think that's the key thing here. It would be very easy to try and score political points, but the fact is that we are all trying to be united here, that it's not about blame. We acknowledge the sacrifices made by so many people, the difficult decisions taken by politicians in unprecedented times. We have seen an already overstretched NHS and care sector at breaking point, let alone seen unpaid carers and people caring for loved ones impacted even further. We have all met families, I'm sure, in our role as elected representatives, who have those heartbreaking stories, similar to Bob's story.

Catherine shared with me on Twitter today:

'My father died in a care home...saying goodbye to him thru a window with him stretching his arms to me to help him will haunt me forever'.

And these are things that will leave us all traumatised as a community, as a society, for many decades to come. They have been difficult times.

But, for me, I would like to focus on the campaign of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice who were at the Senedd on 3 November and shared with us their experiences and why they believe this public inquiry is so necessary. As has already been touched upon by other contributions, their three major areas of concern are hospital onset of COVID and also in care homes and the right to life and to a dignified death.

I think looking to Scotland and what they are doing shows clearly why we should be conducting a similar inquiry here in Wales, and the reasons are simple. We made decisions here in Wales that were specific to Wales, and, therefore, the scrutiny should be here. If we look to Scotland, the aim of the inquiry there is very simple: it will provide scrutiny of and learn lessons from the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland to ensure that Scotland is as prepared as possible for future pandemics. Because, as we all know, this pandemic is far from over and also further pandemics are predicted in the future. We also need to learn lessons in all sorts of ways, not just in terms of the health sector and care sector, but, similar to the scope in Scotland, look at all of the impact of COVID and actions taken in terms of education and so on. So, therefore, my plea is simple: we need to ensure that families who have suffered bereavement and continue to suffer bereavement get the answers they need and deserve, but also that we are better planned for future pandemics. 

As Rhun mentioned, the undermining of trust with the UK Government is something that many constituents who have lost loved ones have raised with me, following recent press coverage of alleged parties and so on whilst people were not seeing loved ones who were dying. We need to acknowledge the mistrust of bereaved families in Wales of the UK Government's competence in undertaking an inquiry, let alone looking at the actual situation here in Wales. So, I would urge all Members to think about those bereaved families when placing their votes today and why an inquiry will help us in Wales. It is not about apportioning blame; it is about justice and learning lessons for the future.