Elections to Cannock Chase District Council took place on 3 May 2012 on the same day as other local elections in England.[1] A total of 14 councillors were elected from 13 wards as a third of the council was up for election. This also included a by-election in the Hagley ward which filled a vacancy that had arisen since the previous election. There were no elections held in the Hednesford Green Heath or Rawnsley wards as those wards elect only two councillors in the other two years of the election cycle.
The Labour Party gained the council from no overall control and became the first party to win an outright majority since the election of 2002. Compared with the results of the 2008 election when these seats were last up for election, Labour almost doubled their vote share and gained many seats they had previously lost to the Conservatives along with seats in Rugeley that had always previously been held by the Liberal Democrats. Three candidates from the Liberal Party stood in the Hagley ward, including one sitting councillor who defected from the Liberal Democrats, but they were not successful. The swing from Conservative to Labour across the district was 16.7%, a record for a Cannock Chase District Council election. This was the last election in which a party gained more than 50% of the vote until the Conservatives' landslide victory in 2021.
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Prior to the election, the composition of the council was:
| 16 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 1 | |
| Labour | Conservative | Lib Dem | Lib | Vac |
After the election, the composition of the council was:
| 24 | 12 | 5 | |
| Labour | Conservative | Lib Dem |
Vote share changes are based on the results achieved by parties in 2008 when these seats were last contested.
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Diane Bennett was the sitting councillor for the Cannock West ward and previously defected from the Conservatives to the Liberal Party.^
The sitting councillor, Tony Williams, had previously defected from the Liberal Democrats to the Liberal Party.| Ward Summary | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % Votes | ±% | Seats | Change | |
| 743 | 47.4 | 20.2 | 2 | 1 | ||
| 473 | 30.2 | N/A | 0 | |||
| 200 | 12.8 | 10.1 | 0 | |||
| 151 | 9.6 | 40.3 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Total Votes Cast | 1,567 | |||||