Staff from BBC local radio and television stations have gone on strike to oppose cuts to services and jobs that are due to be introduced from next month.

Members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) walked out of Radio Suffolk's studios in Ipswich for 24 hours on Wednesday morning - along with their colleagues across the country.

Journalists working on Look East bulletins also walked out - dramatically affecting the BBC's coverage of budget day on its local news network. Local BBC online services were also hit.

BBC Radio Suffolk is to be cut to broadcasting 40 hours a week - from 6am to 2pm Mondays to Fridays.

During afternoons it will share programmes with listeners in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire - and at other times it will link up with six other stations in East Anglia, the south east, and the East Midlands.

East Anglian Daily Times: Mark Murphy joined the protest outside BBC Radio Suffolk.Mark Murphy joined the protest outside BBC Radio Suffolk. (Image: Charlotte Bond)

Among those protesting in Ipswich was the "Voice of Suffolk," Mark Murphy MBE, whose popular weekend programmes are under threat.

Radio Suffolk NUJ Father of the Chapel (union representative) Andrew Woodger said: "These cuts will effectively end local radio. People in Suffolk don't want to hear what is going on in Hunstanton or St Neots and at the weekends it will also cover an area as far away as Daventry and Buckingham.

"We welcome investing in online - but to do that at the expense of local broadcasting is wrong. It is throwing out the baby with the bathwater."

The BBC confirmed disruption to its local TV and radio services across England over the service cuts.

A spokesman said: “We’re sorry that audiences will experience some changes to local TV and radio services in England as a result of industrial action by the National Union of Journalists. We have tried to minimise disruption as much as possible.”