BBC Radio Kent breakfast show presenter John Warnett says that the proposed job cuts at the BBC will lead to a poorer quality of service.

BBC staff walked out in protest at widespread job losses on Monday, disrupting television, radio and online services.

Around 3,800 staff risk losing their jobs nationally, with 12 possible job cuts in Tunbridge Wells, including seven from BBC Radio Kent.

Staff are worried that the cuts will affect quality of service and that programmes will become more homogenised and less responsive to local communities’ needs and interests.

Mr Warnett said: "People value the BBC and realise that if they keep cutting jobs, the quality of the service will keep getting worse and worse."

Jeremy Dear, secretary general of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said: "It’s very regrettable that it’s had to come to a strike, but BBC management have ignored our calls for proper negotiation and left us with no other option.

"The corporations’s arrogant, bludgeoning approach demonstrates their contempt not only for their staff but also for the viewers and listeners."

Staff from all areas, including programme makers, presenters and technicians, represented by the union BECTU, took part in the action after members of the BBC Joint Unions voted overwhelmingly for a strike.

James Clarke, NUJ committee member said: "We are hoping that the BBC will enter into negotiations on whether the cuts will go ahead, but at the moment they are refusing. The public have been very supportive as they agree with what we are doing."

The unions plan to strike again at the end of the month. The BBC said that nationally as many as four-fifths of its technical staff came to work as usual, and more than half of its online employees.

Mark Thompson, BBC director general, said the proposed cuts and changes were "a price worth paying to see a strong BBC in the long term".