Llanelli (UK Parliament constituency)

Llanelli is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From 1918 to 1970 the official spelling of the constituency name was Llanelly. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It has been represented since 2005 by Nia Griffith of the Labour Party.

The Llanelli Senedd constituency was created with the same boundaries in 1999 (as an Assembly constituency).

The constituency retained its name and gained wards, as part of the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies and under the June 2023 final recommendations of the Boundary Commission for Wales for the 2024 general election.

Boundaries

1918–1950:

The constituency was established in 1918, as a division of Carmarthenshire, located in the south east of the county. This area had, until 1918, been the southern part of the constituency of East Carmarthenshire.

It consisted of the then local authority areas of the Municipal Borough of Llanelly; the Urban Districts of Ammanford, Burry Port and Cwmamman; the Rural Districts of Lanelly and part of Llandilofawr (namely the civil parishes of Betws, Llandybie and Quarter Bach, and Ward I of the civil parish of Llandilo Rural)

The division bordered Carmarthen to the west and north, Brecon and Radnor to the north east, Neath to the east, Gower to the south east and the sea to the south.

1950–1974:

In the next redistribution of constituencies in Wales, which took effect in 1950, the northern boundary of the constituency was slightly altered. Llanelly no longer bordered Brecon and Radnor and Gower was extended north and took over the part of the 1918 Neath constituency that had previously adjoined Carmarthenshire. The constituency area continued to include the same local authorities as in 1918 (apart from a spelling change to Llandilo for the part RDC included):

The borough of Llanelly;
The urban districts of Ammanford, Burry Port and Cwmamman;
The rural district of Llanelly and the parish of Bettws in the rural district of Llandilo.

At the 1970 general election the official spelling of the constituency name was altered to Llanelli. This followed the change in name of both the borough and rural district in 1966.

1974–1983:

The constituency appears to have been unchanged by the redistribution. The local authorities remained the same (apart from spelling changes):

The borough of Llanelli;
the urban districts of Ammanford, Burry Port and Cwmamman;
the rural district of Llanelli and the parish of Bettws in the rural district of Llandeilo.

The substantial local government changes which took effect in 1974 did not affect this redistribution as it used the boundaries as they existed in November 1970 to construct parliamentary constituencies. the constituency now comprises the following wards of the County of Carmarthenshire from the 2024 general election:

Bigyn, Burry Port, Bynea, Dafen and Felinfoel, Elli, Glanymor, Glyn, Gorlas, Hendy, Hengoed, Kidwelly and St. Ishmael, Llangennech, Llangyndeyrn, Llannon, Lliedi, Llwynhendy, Pembrey, Pontyberem, Swiss Valley, Trimsaran, Tycroes, and Tyisha.

History

Llanelli has traditionally been an ultra-safe Labour seat, with a Labour MP representing the constituency since 1922. It was represented by one-time deputy leader of the Labour Party, Jim Griffiths, from 1936 until his retirement in 1970. In recent years however Labour's majority had been somewhat eroded by Plaid Cymru, who as of 2021 have won the equivalent seat in the Senedd in two of the six Senedd elections to date. At the 2015 general election, however, the Labour majority increased once again and in 2017 it increased further to nearly 30% with the Conservatives replacing Plaid Cymru in second place. At the 2019 general election, there was a swing of 8.8% from Labour to Conservative but the latter's vote collapsed in 2024, allowing Reform UK to take second place and reducing Labour's majority to 1,504 (3.7%).