Cannock Chase General Election profile: Beauty spot to become battleground

Cannock Chase has been a fierce battleground between Labour and the Tories in the last two general elections.

The seat was first created in 1997 and is made up of the entire district of Cannock Chase, including the towns of Cannock, Hednesford, and Rugeley.

Prior to that, the district was split with Cannock and Hednesford forming part of the old Cannock and Burntwood seat and Rugeley part of the former Mid Staffordshire constituency.

Cannock Chase is a constituency with a proud industrial heritage centred mainly around coal mining. Cannock, Hednesford, and Rugeley are relatively small towns with their own identities.

Conservative Party chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin is a former miner from Chadsmoor in Cannock.

The constituency has been affected by the closure of the Rugeley Power Station, which employed around 200 people, and the pending move of Gestamp and 800 staff from Cannock into nearby Four Ashes in South Staffordshire.

It has good links to the M6, the M6 Toll and the M54, as well as train stations in Rugeley, Hednesford, and Cannock to Birmingham. Rugeley Trent Valley is on the West Coast Main Line with fast services to London and Manchester.

In the Staffordshire County Council elections this month, Labour suffered a drubbing and maintained just two councillors in the Cannock Chase area.

Until 2010, the constituency was a safe Labour seat under Tony Wright.

But Aidan Burley won the seat for the Tories with a massive 14 per cent swing – the biggest from Labour to the Conservatives in the country in the 2010 election.

Mr Burley stood down two years ago after controversy following a Nazi-themed stag do.

• Amanda Milling is defending the seat she retained for the Conservative two years ago. She is a close ally of Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and is the parliamentary private secretary to Baroness Anelay of St Johns in the Foreign Office.

• Labour has selected 7/7 hero Paul Dadge as its candidate. Born in Norton Canes, he came to prominence after being photographed helping casualties to the 7/7 Tube bombings in London in 2005. He has campaigned for Press regulatory reform.

• The Green Party candidate Paul Woodhead is a councillor in Hednesford and a well-known campaigner in the district.

• Liberal Democrat Nat Green is a councillor in Shropshire.

• UKIP candidate Paul Allen is a director of a property business in Cannock.

Best odds: Con 1/200, Lab 20/1, UKIP, 200/1, Lib Dem 300/1, Green 500/1

Predication: Conservative hold with comfortable majority

Since 1997, voters in Cannock Chase have always mirrored the national picture.

In the past two elections those voters have turned their backs on Labour who have traditionally been strong in this former mining community.

The seat was seen as a Labour/Tory marginal in 2010 and 2015 but a lack of major visits from party big-hitters suggest the seat is viewed as more secure for Amanda Milling and the Conservatives this time around.

Labour have played something of a ‘joker card’ by selecting local hero Paul Dadge as its candidate.

Mr Dadge is well-known for his role in the aftermath of the London Tube bombings in 2005 and is an experienced campaigner on issues from press regulation to championing voluntary work with the emergency services.

Labour will hope his name recognition and backstory will mean he is a much better challenger than Janos Toth was two years ago.

But if the recent county council election results are anything to go by, then Mr Dadge will have his work cut out.

Amanda Milling has been a busy MP since entering Westminster – sitting on a number of committees as well as being involved in Boris Johnson’s failed attempt for the party leadership following the referendum.

The UKIP vote will be interesting to watch because here its supporters have come from both the two other main parties.

But as it stands, there is only one clear winner.