Thank you, Presiding Officer, and could I thank everyone who's contributed in the debate this afternoon? We make no apologies for bringing this debate again before the Senedd, as Russell George in his opening remarks made it quite clear that the Welsh Conservatives have been championing this cause for the last 18 months or so. It is vital that Wales has its own independent inquiry, and if I could use the words of the Minister herself from yesterday's contributions in the health statement that she put forward on testing and booster vaccine roll-out here in Wales, she actually said,

'I don't know where people are getting that idea that we are doing this in the same way as in England. We're not.'

And that is the key thing here. Wales has taken a separate road on many issues, as has been highlighted in many contributions this afternoon: Laura Anne Jones talking about the life-changing decisions that various Ministers have taken; Rhun ap Iorwerth saying that it shouldn't be a chapter in a UK inquiry; Delyth Jewell and Heledd Fychan highlighting, in Heledd's case, the number of deaths in the South Wales Central area, but, in Delyth's case, the particular issue over care homes and discharges into care homes. These are issues that cannot be just dealt with in a wider UK inquiry. They need to be looked at specifically in a Welsh context, because the decisions were taken by Welsh Ministers. 

And I think what's really telling today as well—and I think it's a bit disappointing to say the least, if not upsetting—is that not one single Labour Member contributed to this debate. I can think of no other event at all that has happened in my lifetime that has had such an impact on life in Wales, in the UK, and across the globe. Thankfully, I'm not old enough to have been around when the world wars were on, or any major impacts like that, but this pandemic has touched every corner of the globe, every corner of the United Kingdom, and every part of Wales. And for the 9,000 people who have tragically lost their lives, the families that are left behind do deserve answers. They deserve answers to serious questions they want to put over the way that the issues were dealt with at care homes, in hospitals, or just in the wider community.

I thought the point that Gareth made in particular around the First Minister's actions when it came to face coverings, when it was said by the First Minister himself that they weren't even on the bottom of his list—they weren't even on his list at that time, back last summer. These things are easily forgotten, but actions were slow to come forward that we take for granted now, and Gareth highlighted that in his contribution. Janet, in particular, highlighted the five-mile rule and the impact on rural communities, and then she went on to address the issues around the missing letters that went astray for people who were shielding at the very outset of the pandemic. These are all areas that an inquiry, held under the Inquiries Act 2005, could deal with, because let's not forget, this would be politicians agreeing to set it up, but once it was set up, it would be governed by the Inquiries Act, which is very, very specific in the way the terms of references would be drawn up and the way the chairman would act.

I do welcome that Boris Johnson has announced today the appointment of the UK chair. That is a vital part of the deal—the deal that the UK Prime Minister made when he said he would set up such an inquiry, and he is sticking to that deal. But I cannot, for the life of me, understand why the First Minister, and the Labour Government, and indeed the Labour Party, I assume—with the noble exception of Chris Evans, the Member of Parliament for Islwyn, who believes that we should have a public inquiry—ultimately are standing out from allowing this public inquiry to happen. It is vital that the 9,000 people who have sadly died in this pandemic's families get the answers they require. It was made perfectly clear at the time that there would be an inquiry at the outset, and many of us, as was highlighted by the contributions that have been made this afternoon, genuinely believed that that was going to be a Wales-wide public inquiry, rather than a UK-wide one on its own.

Scotland have proven that it can be done in the context of a Scottish/UK relationship. As a proud unionist, I want to see that UK-wide inquiry, but as a devolutionist as well, I fully understand that decisions have been taken here in Wales that are specific to Wales. The broad consortium that has come together to call for this inquiry—from the older person's commissioner to Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru, to the Institute of Welsh Affairs, a broad consensus of Welsh society—has highlighted the importance that what has been the most traumatic period in most people's lives is genuinely tested under the microscope of an independent inquiry. I do hope that Members of all political persuasions tonight will endorse the Conservative motion that's before them. I referenced Chris Evans, the Labour Islwyn Member of Parliament. I couldn't put this better myself. He said: 

'I don’t think this is a political issue, it's a moral issue.'

We have a moral responsibility to make sure that a public inquiry does come forward. I hope the more free-thinking Labour backbenchers join in Chris Evans's thinking and look to their moral fortitude and vote with the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats tonight, to bring forward that independent inquiry. As I said before, the health Minister summed it up perfectly yesterday in her remarks when she said, 'We aren't England. We're not doing it the way England are doing it.' So, let's test what the Welsh Government did. Let's test those impacts. Let's build the safety measures in place for future pandemics, and make sure we build a better Wales, so that we can stand up to the rigours and the challenges that we might face in the future. Let's vote for this motion tonight. I urge all Members to allow that public inquiry to happen, so that we can do justice for the bereaved here in Wales.