Update: BBC Norfolk staff are on strike to maintain solidarity in face of cuts

Local members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) have mounted a picket line outside BBC Norfolk's headquarters at The Forum in Norwich in solidarity with colleagues on picket lines at BBC offices across the UK.

The NUJ have said a number of compulsory redundancies were being made, mainly in the World Service.

Mother of the Chapel for NUJ members at BBC Norfolk, Rita Johnson, said that local members were keen to show their support for the national strikes.

She said: 'We're here in solidarity because we know there are more cuts to come and NUJ members in Norfolk are not going to let it happen here.'

The strikes have seen BBC Norfolk operating on a skeleton staff today, with all broadcast journalists forfeiting their day's pay to take part in the strike.

The picket line outside the forum is only small because of restriction limiting the numbers, but the NUJ are operating a rota system to ensure their placards and leaflets are available until 4pm today, after a 6am start.

Management inside the BBC Norfolk studios suggested that they were continuing with business as normal as best they can but were sticking with the national statement issued by BBC management about today's strike.

This reads: 'We are disappointed that the NUJ is intending to strike and apologise to our audience for any disruption to services this may cause.

'Industrial action will not alter the fact that the BBC is faced with a number of potential compulsory redundancies, following significant cuts to the central government grants that support the World Service and BBC Monitoring.

'We will continue with our efforts to reduce the need for compulsory redundancies, however, the number of posts that we are having to close means that unfortunately it is likely to be impossible for us to avoid some compulsory redundancies.'

For more, see tomorrow's EDP and Evening News.