Walsall MP Eddie Hughes on the Tory party Conference: Time for a return to Tory principles

He said a lot of good stuff about Brexit, particularly in terms of how we should take a tougher line with the EU if they continue to criticise us over the progress of the talks.

That was music to my ears, but I was really pleased to hear him say that as a party we need to return to a position where the public know what a Conservative policy is.

Labour is being led by a guy who has been pretty clear about his principles for the last 30 years.

For too long it has been less clear what a Conservative policy is. This is something that I firmly believe we need to work on as a party.

Elsewhere at the conference a great deal of my time has been spent involved in discussions around housing.

As the chair of the board for the Walsall Housing Group it is an issue that is close to my heart.

Chairing a fringe event and also attending a National Housing Federation debate, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much of a key issue housing has become for the Government.

There is no doubt that the Grenfell tragedy has pushed safety issues up the agenda, but there are also other concerns, such as how young people are struggling to get on the housing ladder.

Something that I have been keen to highlight is the need to develop on old industrial sites in places like Willenhall and Bloxwich.

With a growing population we need to bring in the money to build houses on these sites. A knock on effect is that we also need people who are trained to build these new properties.

I'm hoping that the apprenticeship levy will encourage more young people to enter the construction industry, rather than go to university.