The Parliamentary Borough of
Carmarthen (made up of
Carmarthen town and
Llanelli) existed from 1542 to 1832 alongside the Parliamentary County of
Carmarthenshire, each returning one
member. Under the
Great Reform Act of 1832, the Borough was expanded to include both
Carmarthen town and
Llanelli (known as the Carmarthen Boroughs), and the representation of the county was increased to two members. In 1885, Carmarthenshire was split into the two county constituencies of
East Carmarthenshire and
West Carmarthenshire with one member each. In 1918, the
borough constituency was abolished (as well as
East and
West Carmarthenshire), but the name
Carmarthen was transferred to one of the divisions of the county of
Carmarthenshire. The new constituency was made up of the whole of the county of
Carmarthenshire except for the new
Llanelli constituency (the urban area around
Llanelli). Notable towns were
Carmarthen itself,
Ammanford and
Llandeilo. In 1997, the
Boundary Commission for Wales recommended an extra seat for
Dyfed. This led to the seat being split two to one between
Carmarthen East & Dinefwr and
Carmarthen West & South Pembrokeshire. The constituency was re-established as
Caerfyrddin as part of the
2023 review of Westminster constituencies and under the
June 2023 final proposals of the
Boundary Commission for Wales for the
2024 United Kingdom general election.
Political history Because the seat contained mining areas in the valley of the
River Gwendraeth (until the 1980s), much countryside and a high proportion of
Welsh speakers, it was fertile territory for the
Labour Party, the
Conservatives and
Plaid Cymru alike. Although the Conservatives never won the seat, they came within 1200 votes of doing so in
1983. Carmarthen is notable as the first constituency to elect a Plaid Cymru MP,
Gwynfor Evans, at a
1966 by-election. Evans was later involved in one of the closest general election results ever in
February 1974, when he lost to the Labour candidate by only three votes. The constituency also shot to fame in the following election in October 1974 as the only seat in the country to see its turnout rise on that of February 1974. ==Members of Parliament==