Sometimes in the boxing ring a battered fighter manages to stave off the knock-out punch by wildly striking out.

That's local government, in the shape of Sir Merrick Cockell.  It's a tempting image, as the slugger in the blue corner lashed out at the Scots, the Barnett formula, Whitehall, centralisation and that old favourite ‘red tape' – as if local authorities didn't have a roll or two in the town hall cupboard.

But, this pugilist had one hand strapped behind his back. His mention of Eric Pickles was coy.

How could he make a speech about the usurpation of council responsibilities and the incoherence of policy emanating from the Department for Education without attacking Michael Gove, the arch-enemy of democratic local government in England?

He didn't, because Sir Merrick Cockell, like the rest of LGA leadership and council chieftains up and down the land is first and foremost a party politician, achingly dependent on nods and winks from No.10.  He's not likely to have a go at Mr Gove, a putative contender for the Tory leadership.

Did he show his remarks to Tory party officials beforehand – just as, in a similar situation, a Labour leader of the LGA would try hard not to embarrass ministers?

Sir Merrick might even have picked up that suggestion about merging Whitehall departments from the Cabinet Office, where Francis Maude has been considering the idea for a second term ‘to do' list.

Of course, the conference speech was noteworthy. He broke new ground by validating the idea of an English polity, with its own department.

This could be the start of the formation of an English state, which some see as the inevitable consequence of the growing autonomy for Wales and Northern Ireland:

Scottish separatism will grow regardless of the result of next year's referendum on formal independence.

Local government should be careful of what it wishes for.  Didn't the LGA learn a lesson from its hastily enthusiastic response to Eric Pickles' whimsical decision to get rid of the Audit Commission?  Applause has now given way to regret.

With the commission a useful mechanism for benchmarking and comparing the performance of councils that the LGA's voluntary scheme disappeared and has not replaced.

The door has opened, too, to the penetration of town and county halls by the National Audit Office.  Carolyn Downs has already squirmed during trial at the hands of the MPs on the Public Accounts Committee.

Strengthening ‘England' won't automatically mean more power to the elbow of local government.  Ask the Welsh members of the LGA about increasing centralisation of service responsibility in Wales.

Similarly, in Scotland, moves towards national autonomy are shrinking the scope of local bodies.  After the nationalisation of police and fire in Scotland, talk in Edinburgh turns to reorganising and reducing local government.

Sir Merrick's missing dimension was money.  No-one, including the LGA, seriously suggests you can do without major redistribution of revenue.

But, England is a deeply divided land, one of the most unequal of western European
societies.  Deep disparities in household income and wealth are matched by profound differences in resources and economic opportunity between regions and areas.

Look at housing costs and land values in London and the South East compared to Lancashire or the West Midlands.  Look at the difference in economic prospects, welfare costs and infrastructure needs across the face of the land.

Councils coming together in the forum the LGA proposes might just about agree on some common definition of needs.

As for resources – the money necessary to meet those needs – who believes Westminster and Kent and Hampshire and the affluent ‘others' are going to tax their inhabitants to provide decent services in Newcastle or Stoke? n

David Walker is contributing editor to the Public Leaders Network and former director of public reporting at the Audit Commission