THE Conservatives strengthened their grip on Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, despite predictions of a close three-horse race.
Incumbent Angela Burns increased her previous majority of 98 to 1,504, with a swing of 2.5 per cent from Labour to the Conservatives.
She fought off a stiff challenge from Christine Gwyther, who held the seat for Labour from 1999-2007.
And the third placed finish for Plaid Cymru constituency newcomer Nerys Evans, the party's director of policy who cashed in her regional seat to try to win the three-way marginal, will have come as a huge blow to her party.
All three parties took votes from Liberal Democrat Selwyn Runnett, but the Tories enjoyed the largest haul.
"I was very nervous tonight," said victorious Mrs Burns.
"But I tell you what, I have been getting such a good response on the doorstep I did not believe people would turn against me. One lady I spoke to on the doorstep said she had always voted Labour in the past but she was voting Conservative this time — I had a good feeling after that."
Mrs Burns said the main issues people were concerned about on her campaign trail were the economy, job security, education and health. It was clear from early samples the seat had turned into a two-horse race between Labour and the Conservatives.
Carmarthen local Ms Evans gained a late flurry of ballot papers, as boxes from her hometown were counted.
But it was never going to be enough.
She said: "I am disappointed but we increased our vote in the light of a very big swing to Labour across the nation.
"We knew it was wide open and it could have gone either way."
She said she had no regrets in her all-or-nothing approach of cashing her list membership for a stab at the constituency.
Asked about her plans for the future she joked: "Take a holiday I think."
Labour's defeated Mrs Gwyther said she did not expect Plaid to do as well as in 2007 because that election was the height of discontent towards the Labour Party.
"I thought it was going to be close between first and second," she said.
"It was an excellent campaign. We found support right across the constituency and it's important we build on that in the future."
But on a night of Labour gains nationally, this did not translate to her seat, nor its neighbour Preseli Pembrokeshire which also saw a Tory hold.
"The Conservative vote in Pembrokeshire is extremely strong and I said that throughout the campaign.
"We have to analyse the result in the context of the turnout in the West."
Last-placed Liberal Democrat Selwyn Runnett was never going to be anything more than a rank outsider.
Echoing other heavy defeats across the country, his party failed to get their deposit back after winning just 3.9 per cent of the vote.
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