0:00:00 > 0:00:00Here on BBC One, it's time for the news where you are.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14Hello and welcome to the Look East late news.
0:00:14 > 0:00:15In the programme tonight:
0:00:15 > 0:00:17The local Conservative Association says it will continue
0:00:17 > 0:00:19to support Priti Patel following her resignation
0:00:19 > 0:00:20from the Cabinet.
0:00:20 > 0:00:21Mapping the not spots
0:00:21 > 0:00:23in Norfolk to put pressure on the mobile phone operators.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26And halfway through a 48-hour strike on the railways.
0:00:26 > 0:00:36Passengers say there's been little impact.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40Hello, I'm Amelia Reynolds.
0:00:40 > 0:00:41First:
0:00:41 > 0:00:44The MP Priti Patel continues to have the full backing of the local
0:00:44 > 0:00:47Conservative Association in Witham tonight.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49The chairman told Look East the Government is in a worse place
0:00:50 > 0:00:52without her in the cabinet.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54Earlier this evening she resigned as International Development
0:00:54 > 0:00:56Secretary amid controversy over her unauthorised meetings
0:00:56 > 0:00:58with Israeli officials.
0:00:58 > 0:01:03In her resignation letter to the Prime Minister, Priti Patel
0:01:03 > 0:01:05said she will continue speaking up for the good people
0:01:05 > 0:01:08of the Witham constituency.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12This report is from our political correspondent Andrew Sinclair.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14She may not be a minister anymore but Priti Patel
0:01:14 > 0:01:17is still the MP for Witham.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21In this year's election she got 64% of the vote.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24And despite all the negative headlines, many of her constituents
0:01:24 > 0:01:27appear to be behind her.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29She is the best thing that has happened to this town.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33She is a very popular MP in Witham.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36I think she was put in a position where she should have known better,
0:01:36 > 0:01:38but at the same time she's a very good MP.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40This doesn't diminish your opinion of her?
0:01:40 > 0:01:41No.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44Despite being seen as a high flyer Priti Patel has always found time
0:01:44 > 0:01:48to be seen in the constituency, and champion local causes.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53She has been at the forefront of the campaign to improve the A120.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57She was among the group of local MPs who launched the campaign for rail
0:01:57 > 0:01:58services in the east.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00Even though she may have embarrassed the party,
0:02:00 > 0:02:05that does not bother you?
0:02:05 > 0:02:08Clearly reputation is key to us, but I am really only concerned
0:02:08 > 0:02:11about her job as a Member of Parliament for Witham.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14But her critics say there have been times when Witham has lost out
0:02:14 > 0:02:18by having a globetrotting minister as an MP.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22Hopefully she will be able to spend a bit more time in the constituency,
0:02:22 > 0:02:25and pick up a number of the issues which, if you are a cabinet
0:02:25 > 0:02:28minister, perhaps is very difficult.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31Some reports I get from constituents is that she has been selective
0:02:31 > 0:02:32in picking up casework.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35So it might actually be positive.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38Few believe that her ministerial career is at an end so she will
0:02:38 > 0:02:39probably bounce back.
0:02:39 > 0:02:44But for now constituency work will be her main job.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48After 24 hours of speculation Priti Patel is no longer a minister.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51But Witham still has her as their MP, and most people
0:02:51 > 0:02:53here seem very pleased about that.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57But this whole affair has been very damaging to her reputation,
0:02:57 > 0:03:00and at some stage she is going to have to come to her constituency
0:03:00 > 0:03:06to explain her actions.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10A plan to create a definitive map of mobile phone coverage in Norfolk
0:03:10 > 0:03:11was agreed by the county council today.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13Councillors say
0:03:13 > 0:03:15they want to encourage the phone companies to spend more
0:03:15 > 0:03:21improving the network.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25At Winbirri Vineyard, £1.2 million has been invested.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28Lee Dyer, owner and head winemaker, has every reason
0:03:28 > 0:03:30to be proud of his Bacchus wine, which has won international
0:03:30 > 0:03:35recognition.
0:03:35 > 0:03:41When it comes to processing customers' payments on
0:03:41 > 0:03:44the card reader which relies on mobile phone signals, Lee had to
0:03:44 > 0:03:47leave the office and take a walk past some of the 33 acres of vines,
0:03:47 > 0:03:51to a corner of a field and face west towards Norwich, six miles
0:03:51 > 0:03:52away.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54It can be a bit entertaining when you have customers
0:03:54 > 0:03:57come out to buy the wine.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59They get a mini vineyard tour whilst they are
0:03:59 > 0:04:02at it.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05But nevertheless it is frustrating in this day and age not to be able
0:04:05 > 0:04:08to get a mobile signal this close to a large city.
0:04:08 > 0:04:09On its website the consumer organisation Which?
0:04:09 > 0:04:11features a map from independent coverage
0:04:11 > 0:04:13experts Open Signal.
0:04:13 > 0:04:14Green represents a strong mobile signal,
0:04:14 > 0:04:15red a weak one.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17At County Hall the Digital Innovation Committee voted
0:04:17 > 0:04:27unanimously to commission its own new survey.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31With mobile phones that are bought on the High Street, that
0:04:31 > 0:04:37you or I could buy, we hope to have results by mid-January.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40The County Council says for a fee it could help the telecoms companies
0:04:40 > 0:04:46find suitable locations for the infrastructure.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48Mobile UK is the trade association for the UK's
0:04:48 > 0:04:50mobile network operators - EE, O2, Three and Vodafone.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54The director is Hamish MacLeod.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56I asked him if he understood the scale of frustration
0:04:56 > 0:04:59of some customers.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02He said he wanted to start with the positive.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04Over the last three years operators have been
0:05:04 > 0:05:08investing £2 billion a
0:05:08 > 0:05:12year to prove the network footprint, to upgrade
0:05:12 > 0:05:17to 4G, and to improve the
0:05:17 > 0:05:21capacity, including in Norfolk and other parts of your region.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24Norfolk County Council is compiling this map
0:05:24 > 0:05:27of the not spots, so to speak, in order to put pressure
0:05:27 > 0:05:30on companies to invest.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32But is it just down to money?
0:05:32 > 0:05:34No.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37That is a fair point.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42On occasion planning permission gets turned down.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45So it is very important that communities recognise that
0:05:45 > 0:05:47mobile connectivity is very vital to businesses
0:05:47 > 0:05:51and to people nowadays,
0:05:51 > 0:05:54and that they support these planning applications.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56Are you saying, in other words, that on occasions nimbyism
0:05:56 > 0:06:02gets in the way of a good mobile network?
0:06:02 > 0:06:07I wouldn't like to use that particular word but, yes, we do get
0:06:07 > 0:06:13turned down occasionally on planning applications, and it would be
0:06:13 > 0:06:17helpful if communities could support that better.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20Do you think this map that Norfolk County Council is
0:06:20 > 0:06:21compiling will make any difference?
0:06:21 > 0:06:28Investment will continue and this sort of collaboration between the
0:06:28 > 0:06:30operators and between public bodies will help that investment go further
0:06:30 > 0:06:34and hopefully faster.
0:06:34 > 0:06:35Thank you very much.
0:06:35 > 0:06:42Thank you very much indeed.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45There've been significant rush hour delays on the Norwich to London line
0:06:45 > 0:06:47this evening and some branch lines with trains cancelled
0:06:47 > 0:06:49due to a problem with the track at Bethnal Green.
0:06:49 > 0:06:54Meanwhile guards are now nearly half way through a 48-hour strike
0:06:54 > 0:06:56but passengers say the walk out has had little impact.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01Alex Dunlop reports.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03Another strike day, another RMT union picket line, in Clacton,
0:07:03 > 0:07:05and here in Ipswich.
0:07:05 > 0:07:10But this time the walk-out is for 48 hours, not 24.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13Greater Anglia says it's running a near full service with back office
0:07:13 > 0:07:17staff stepping in as contingent guards.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19Unions say passengers are being put at risk.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21The train operator says its temporary teams
0:07:21 > 0:07:24are safety trained.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26We have trained sufficient people to cover and we
0:07:26 > 0:07:29are going to train some more people if we need to.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31And we're just going to carry this on.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34We are going to look after our customers as our
0:07:34 > 0:07:35priority.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37This is not just a local dispute.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39As well as Greater Anglia guards walking out, four other train
0:07:39 > 0:07:43operators are are seeing strike action over the same issue.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45At the moment they're coming out with nice
0:07:45 > 0:07:47things, saying there will always be someone on there.
0:07:47 > 0:07:48Except in emergencies.
0:07:48 > 0:07:49Go on the Southern region.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53The South-eastern region.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56All these other regions, where it's already operating, where
0:07:56 > 0:08:01people are running riot.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03With the Government and the unions today accusing each other of
0:08:03 > 0:08:05playing power politics over the railways,
0:08:05 > 0:08:06this is so much more than
0:08:06 > 0:08:09just a local dispute.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14And stay out out on strike until midnight tomorrow night. Greater
0:08:14 > 0:08:28Anglia is determined to keep the twin -- trains running.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30Finally tonight: A great story about the friendship between a
0:08:30 > 0:08:3225-year-old archaeologist and a 94-year-old veteran of D-Day.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35It all goes back to when John Henry Phillips met Patrick Thomas met
0:08:35 > 0:08:36last year in Normandy.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39This from Mike Liggins.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42John Henry Phillips is an archaeologist by profession
0:08:42 > 0:08:45but his passion is conflict history.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47Last year he met Patrick Thomas on a trip
0:08:47 > 0:08:55to Normandy, and they became friends.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58Patrick was in the Royal Navy and was at D-Day in 1944, when
0:08:58 > 0:09:00his landing craft was sunk by a mine.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03The explosion must have lifted the stern up and drove the bows
0:09:03 > 0:09:07under.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09So I got out in a hurry.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11John decided he wanted to tell Patrick's
0:09:11 > 0:09:18story on film, and, more to the point,
0:09:19 > 0:09:20promised to find
0:09:20 > 0:09:29Patrick's landing craft, now at the bottom of the sea.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32It has been emotional.
0:09:32 > 0:09:33John has started making a documentary
0:09:33 > 0:09:43film, but now needs more money to
0:09:52 > 0:09:53find the wreck
0:09:53 > 0:09:54and finish the film.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56Which is why he's created a crowdfunding campaign.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58I'm not a diver, I'm not a maritime exploder.
0:09:59 > 0:10:00It has become a bit of an obsession.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03I am hoping to find it whilst he is still with us.
0:10:03 > 0:10:05We are on a road trip there.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07It has become an obsession for John, and
0:10:07 > 0:10:10with Patrick now 94 years young, the quest to find his landing craft
0:10:10 > 0:10:10has become a race against time.
0:10:10 > 0:10:11has become a race against time.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13That's all from me.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Coming up now the weather with Alex, but from the rest of the late team,
0:10:16 > 0:10:17goodnight.
0:10:17 > 0:10:23Some chilly temperatures across the region. Close to freezing and or two
0:10:23 > 0:10:29spots. Cloud coming in from the West. Temperatures recovering by the
0:10:29 > 0:10:34end of the night. Still a chilly start tomorrow. Outbreaks of rain
0:10:34 > 0:10:37first thing. This weather system taking time to clear south
0:10:37 > 0:10:44eastwards. Eventually we will start to see brighter skies and sunshine
0:10:44 > 0:10:51by the afternoon. It will be a little bit on the chilly side but
0:10:51 > 0:10:57looking like some fine autumn sunshine. Here is the outlook.
0:10:57 > 0:11:02Friday turning cloudy with rain pushing him later. A rather chilly