The panic which developed in the corridors of Westminster during the run-up to the Scottish independence referendum has had an unexpected and potentially beneficial spin-off for local government in England.

There is now an all-party commitment to some form of devolution within England, as well as increased powers for the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh and Northern Ireland Assemblies. This is in principle a welcome boost for English local government, which would otherwise have been vulnerable to a further drift to centralisation, whatever the result of the 2015 General Election.