08/11/2017 Look East

Here on BBC One, it's time

for the news where you are.

Hello and welcome to

the Look East late news.

In the programme tonight:

The local Conservative Association

says it will continue

to support Priti Patel

following her resignation

from the Cabinet.

Mapping the not spots

in Norfolk to put pressure

on the mobile phone operators.

And halfway through a 48-hour strike

on the railways.

Passengers say there's

been little impact.

Hello, I'm Amelia Reynolds.

First:

The MP Priti Patel continues to

have the full backing of the local

Conservative Association

in Witham tonight.

The chairman told Look East

the Government is in a worse place

without her in the cabinet.

Earlier this evening she resigned

as International Development

Secretary amid controversy

over her unauthorised meetings

with Israeli officials.

In her resignation letter

to the Prime Minister, Priti Patel

said she will continue speaking

up for the good people

of the Witham constituency.

This report is from our political

correspondent Andrew Sinclair.

She may not be a minister

anymore but Priti Patel

is still the MP for Witham.

In this year's election

she got 64% of the vote.

And despite all the negative

headlines, many of her constituents

appear to be behind her.

She is the best thing that has

happened to this town.

She is a very popular MP in Witham.

I think she was put in a position

where she should have known better,

but at the same time she's

a very good MP.

This doesn't diminish

your opinion of her?

No.

Despite being seen as a high flyer

Priti Patel has always found time

to be seen in the constituency,

and champion local causes.

She has been at the forefront

of the campaign to improve the A120.

She was among the group of local MPs

who launched the campaign for rail

services in the east.

Even though she may have

embarrassed the party,

that does not bother you?

Clearly reputation is key to us,

but I am really only concerned

about her job as a Member

of Parliament for Witham.

But her critics say there have been

times when Witham has lost out

by having a globetrotting minister

as an MP.

Hopefully she will be able to spend

a bit more time in the constituency,

and pick up a number of the issues

which, if you are a cabinet

minister, perhaps is very difficult.

Some reports I get from constituents

is that she has been selective

in picking up casework.

So it might actually be positive.

Few believe that her ministerial

career is at an end so she will

probably bounce back.

But for now constituency work

will be her main job.

After 24 hours of speculation

Priti Patel is no longer a minister.

But Witham still has her

as their MP, and most people

here seem very pleased about that.

But this whole affair has been very

damaging to her reputation,

and at some stage she is going

to have to come to her constituency

to explain her actions.

A plan to create a definitive map

of mobile phone coverage in Norfolk

was agreed by the county

council today.

Councillors say

they want to encourage the phone

companies to spend more

improving the network.

At Winbirri Vineyard,

£1.2 million has been invested.

Lee Dyer, owner and head

winemaker, has every reason

to be proud of his Bacchus wine,

which has won international

recognition.

When it comes to processing

customers' payments on

the card reader which relies

on mobile phone signals, Lee had to

leave the office and take a walk

past some of the 33 acres of vines,

to a corner of a field and face west

towards Norwich, six miles

away.

It can be a bit entertaining

when you have customers

come out to buy the wine.

They get a mini vineyard

tour whilst they are

at it.

But nevertheless it is frustrating

in this day and age not to be able

to get a mobile signal this

close to a large city.

On its website the consumer

organisation Which?

features a map from

independent coverage

experts Open Signal.

Green represents

a strong mobile signal,

red a weak one.

At County Hall the Digital

Innovation Committee voted

unanimously to commission

its own new survey.

With mobile phones that are bought

on the High Street, that

you or I could buy, we hope to have

results by mid-January.

The County Council says for a fee it

could help the telecoms companies

find suitable locations

for the infrastructure.

Mobile UK is the trade

association for the UK's

mobile network operators -

EE, O2, Three and Vodafone.

The director is Hamish MacLeod.

I asked him if he understood

the scale of frustration

of some customers.

He said he wanted to

start with the positive.

Over the last three years

operators have been

investing £2 billion

a

year to prove the network

footprint, to upgrade

to 4G, and to improve

the

capacity, including in Norfolk

and other parts of your region.

Norfolk County Council

is compiling this map

of the not spots, so to speak,

in order to put pressure

on companies to invest.

But is it just down to money?

No.

That is a fair point.

On occasion planning

permission gets turned down.

So it is very important that

communities recognise that

mobile connectivity is very

vital to businesses

and to people nowadays,

and that they support these

planning applications.

Are you saying, in other words,

that on occasions nimbyism

gets in the way of a

good mobile network?

I wouldn't like to use that

particular word but, yes, we do get

turned down occasionally on planning

applications, and it would be

helpful if communities

could support that better.

Do you think this map that

Norfolk County Council is

compiling will make any difference?

Investment will continue and this

sort of collaboration between the

operators and between public bodies

will help that investment go further

and hopefully faster.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much indeed.

There've been significant rush hour

delays on the Norwich to London line

this evening and some branch lines

with trains cancelled

due to a problem with

the track at Bethnal Green.

Meanwhile guards are now nearly half

way through a 48-hour strike

but passengers say the walk out

has had little impact.

Alex Dunlop reports.

Another strike day, another RMT

union picket line, in Clacton,

and here in Ipswich.

But this time the walk-out

is for 48 hours, not 24.

Greater Anglia says it's running

a near full service with back office

staff stepping in as

contingent guards.

Unions say passengers

are being put at risk.

The train operator says

its temporary teams

are safety trained.

We have trained sufficient

people to cover and we

are going to train some more

people if we need to.

And we're just going

to carry this on.

We are going to look

after our customers as our

priority.

This is not just a local dispute.

As well as Greater Anglia guards

walking out, four other train

operators are are seeing strike

action over the same issue.

At the moment they're

coming out with nice

things, saying there will always

be someone on there.

Except in emergencies.

Go on the Southern region.

The South-eastern region.

All these other regions,

where it's already operating, where

people are running riot.

With the Government and the unions

today accusing each other of

playing power politics

over the railways,

this is so much more

than

just a local dispute.

And stay out out on strike until

midnight tomorrow night. Greater

Anglia is determined to keep the

twin -- trains running.

Finally tonight: A great story

about the friendship between a

25-year-old archaeologist

and a 94-year-old veteran of D-Day.

It all goes back to when John Henry

Phillips met Patrick Thomas met

last year in Normandy.

This from Mike Liggins.

John Henry Phillips

is an archaeologist by profession

but his passion is conflict history.

Last year he met

Patrick Thomas on a trip

to Normandy, and

they became friends.

Patrick was in the Royal Navy

and was at D-Day in 1944, when

his landing craft

was sunk by a mine.

The explosion must have lifted

the stern up and drove the bows

under.

So I got out in a hurry.

John decided he wanted

to tell Patrick's

story on film, and,

more to the point,

promised to find

Patrick's landing craft,

now at the bottom of the sea.

It has been emotional.

John has started

making a documentary

film, but now needs more

money to

find the wreck

and finish the film.

Which is why he's created

a crowdfunding campaign.

I'm not a diver, I'm not

a maritime exploder.

It has become a bit of an obsession.

I am hoping to find it whilst

he is still with us.

We are on a road trip there.

It has become an obsession

for John, and

with Patrick now 94 years young,

the quest to find his landing craft

has become a race against time.

has become a race against time.

That's all from me.

Coming up now the weather with Alex,

but from the rest of the late team,

goodnight.

Some chilly temperatures across the

region. Close to freezing and or two

spots. Cloud coming in from the

West. Temperatures recovering by the

end of the night. Still a chilly

start tomorrow. Outbreaks of rain

first thing. This weather system

taking time to clear south

eastwards. Eventually we will start

to see brighter skies and sunshine

by the afternoon. It will be a

little bit on the chilly side but

looking like some fine autumn

sunshine. Here is the outlook.

Friday turning cloudy with rain

pushing him later. A rather chilly