Last summer's riots strengthened the hand of local authorities to take power back from central government, Eric Pickles said today.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government told a Local Government Association conference that their "leadership" after the disturbances had made a good impression on the prime minister and the deputy prime minister.
With reforms to local government being introduced in the wake of the coalition's spending cuts, he claimed councils' strong performance would help boost their power.
During a question and answer session, Pickles told the conference: "If there is anything that came out of the riots that was positive it was how local government leadership, politicians and officers, dealt with the aftermath.
"I know the prime minister and the deputy prime minister were really impressed by that and it has been easier to move forward with a lot of the reforms.
"I know it (the reform process) is a very big ask and I know we are moving into a different type of territory but being involved in a local council is going to be a lot bigger deal than when you first got involved in local council.
"You are going to have enormous economic and political power and it's going to be very difficult, I think, for the centre to be able to take that back."
Last November a Localism Bill was passed which gives greater powers to councils and local communities over housing and planning decisions.
A Local Government Finance Bill is currently being discussed in Parliament which will allow councils to keep some of the business rates paid by local firms.
Labour has criticised the changes, saying there has been insufficient information on the Finance Bill and no guarantee authorities would be better off.
Speaking in the Commons last week, shadow local government minister Helen Jones said: "What we are dealing with is one extremely complex system being removed and changed to another extremely complex system without proper time for local authorities to prepare for it."