- ITV Report
Anglia Late Edition - January 2019
Anglia Late Edition is the regional politics programme for the East of England presented by political correspondent Emma Hutchinson
More than half the Conservative backbenchers in the Anglia region voted against their own government's Brexit deal consigning to an historic record-breaking defeat.
- Click below to watch the Anglia Late Edition programme broadcast on Thursday 17 January 2019
The former International Development Secretary Priti Patel told the programme that it was "divide and rule" when she was in the Cabinet over who was appointed to Brexit committees.
She said it was "no way to make decisions" and told ITV News Anglia's Political Correspondent Emma Hutchinson that the government performance over Brexit "had not been great."
Priti Patel said: "They so bogged down in this that they're not doing the day job."
Of the 59 Conservative MPs in the Anglia region, 24 of them joined Labour, Independent and Liberal Democrat MPs in voting against the deal.
In total, 35 Conservative MPs in the Anglia region voted in favour of the deal and most of them were members of the government and expected to support it.
The MP for Corby Tom Pursglove had to resign as a Conservative Party vice chairman in order to vote against the deal.
Emma Hutchinson was joined in the studio by three MP from the Anglia region who all voted against the Brexit withdrawal deal but all for different reasons.
- Priti Patel is the Conservative MP for Witham in Essex and was a prominent voice in the Vote Leave campaign.
- Sandy Martin is the Labour for Ipswich - a town where 58% of people voted to leave the European Union.
- Norman Lamb is the long-serving Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk - a constituency that voted to leave by 59%
The programme also contained reaction from politics students from Birchwood High School in Bishop's Stortford who were too young to vote in the 2016 referendum but want to have a say now.
While most were engaged in Brexit debates in Westminster this week, other issues struggle to gain attention.
But sandwiched between a highly-charged Prime Minister's Question Time and a motion of no confidence in Her Majesty's Government, the Chelmsford MP Vicky Ford managed to squeeze in a short debate on letterboxes.
She wants to introduce a new law banning low-level letterboxes in front door because of the back problems they can cause postal workers along with paper boys and girls and perhaps those who deliver political leaflets.
