In the heated debate about the UK referendum, local government is the dog that never barked. Last week's tortuous negotiations between David Cameron and 27 European leaders made little reference to one of the EU's most vital articles of faith, namely subsidiarity, defined in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. This stipulates that the EU does not take action where it can be done better at national, local or regional level.

The European Commission must take into account the regional and local dimension of all draft legislative acts and the Committee of the Regions (CoR), whose members are local and regional councillors from across the EU, has the power to refer any breach of subsidiarity to the European Court of Justice.