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The fact Wales no longer has any Liberal MPs has been told in the context of the party's long, distinguished history here dating back more than 200 years.

And yet there is a far shorter, more dramatic story to tell.

Just 12 years ago, the Liberal Democrats were a very serious force in Welsh politics and appeared to be in the midst of a revival.

The party had six AMs, four MPs and won significant shares of the vote in nearly every Welsh constituency.

This map is of Liberal Democrat support in the 2005 General Election:

The constituency boundaries aren't all correct as there have been boundary changes since 2005 and three constituencies have changed and been renamed.

But the figures for the 40 Welsh constituencies are accurate and the picture they paint is inescapable.

That year there was only one constituency where the party lost its deposit; only three constituencies where it had less than 10% of the vote and in ten areas, a quarter of Wales, it won more than 20% of the vote. In two areas, more than half of voters were Lib Dems.

The party was very much a powerful force in politics in Wales.

Last week, the party was decimated

Last week, the party was reduced to a shadow of its former self.

It lost votes in every seat except one. It won less than 5% of the vote (and lost its deposit) in 36 of Wales' 40 constituencies.

In two seats, Rhondda and Blaenau Gwent, it won less than 1% of the vote.

In cities like Swansea, Wrexham, Newport and Cardiff where the party once controlled (or partly controlled) the city council, its support barely registered.

The only urban exception was the seat of Cardiff Central, once held by the party's MP Jenny Willott, where its support merely halved from 26% to 13%. Back in 2005, the equivalent figure was higher than 50%.

If you consider that areas like Cardiff and Ceredigion voted heavily for Remain in last year's referendum, the failure of the only party actively campaigning for a second referendum is breathtaking.

In many seats, the party performed worse than Ukip - which, considering Ukip had a disastrous election, tells its own story.

How the Lib Dem vote has fallen

This map shows the seats where Ukip had more votes than the Lib Dems last week

This election was catastrophic for Ukip.

The party's vote share across Wales fell from 13.6% in 2015 to just 2.23%. It lost its deposit in every single seat in Wales that it contested.

And yet in 18 seats, the Lib Dems did worse.

Even in somewhere like Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, a Ukip candidate like Neil Hamilton who admitted he had not been to the constituency during the campaign won more votes than the longstanding resident, teacher and community organiser standing for the Lib Dems, Lesley Prosser.

It was only the three mid Wales seats that prevented the Lib Dems from slipping below Ukip in terms of overall votes in Wales.

The huge question it poses for the Liberal Democrats here in Wales is, how do they recover?