What was billed as a fringe meeting at last week’s Conservative Party conference on industrial strategy in the English counties organised by the County Councils’ Network and think-tank ResPublica – and chaired, I may add, by yours truly – turned into a lively scrap about whether the local government sector is too obsessed about structure. The answer, according to one prominent MP speaking was yes, it is but many in the audience disagreed, blaming in turn, the Government.