As voters appear to be split

did most of them in the run-up to the election. It was a hard-fought campaign.”

There were some close calls in the Amman Valley, with Plaid’s Glynog Davies holding his seat in Cwarter Bach by 18 votes from Labour’s Tom Addey.

Plaid also fended off Labour by a narrow margin in Ammanford to take both seats, but lost their incumbent David Jenkins in Glanamman to Labour’s Emyr Rees.

In Llanelli’s two-seat Tyisha ward, Plaid’s Terry Davies avenged his loss to Labour’s Andre Mcpherson in 2017 – fairly comfortably in fact – while Labour’s Suzy Curry retained her seat and polled the most votes.

Cllr Lenny said: “I’m very pleased Terry Davies was elected in Tyisha.

“He lives in the ward, and after the work we [Plaid] have done there – investing millions – I think there was justice in his election.”

Carmarthenshire Labour leader Rob

James described his party’s performance as “okay”.

He said: “Just a few votes decided the fate of a few seats.

“We were hoping for more, around 27 if I’m honest.”

Asked if the loss of a seat in Tyisha was a surprise, Cllr James said: “Yes and no.

“The three areas of Tyisha, Llwynhendy and Glanymor (Llanelli) have had Labour councillors but people have voted for other parties in the past.

“They are not staunch Labourvoting areas – there’s always a bit of turbulence.”

Cllr James, who retained his Lliedi seat in Llanelli, paid tribute to his departing colleague, Mr Mcpherson.

“He was a fantastically hardworking councillor so we are disappointed he didn’t win on this occasion,” he said.

“I am sure he has a strong future ahead of him.”