Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to reports in the Mail on Sunday of Jeremy Hunt’s plan to let ambulances take longer to arrive from the first week of January, said:

“This has all the hallmarks of a panic move and suggests Jeremy Hunt’s only solution to the A&E crisis is to give up and move the goalposts. Rather than getting ambulance response times back up to established standards, it looks like he is running up the white flag. The situation in the NHS is now serious and Jeremy Hunt is failing to provide the leadership it desperately needs.

"While there may be a case for reviewing these rules, this is not the way to do it. It is nothing short of dangerous to make a snap decision at the start of the most difficult winter in the NHS for years.

"Hunt’s decision risks leaving thousands of seriously ill people waiting longer for ambulances this winter. The Health Secretary needs to provide urgent reassurance that this change can be safely made and won’t put lives at risks.

"Re-writing the rules as you go along is no way to solve the crisis the Government has created in England’s emergency services. Rather than tinkering with targets, Jeremy Hunt should be taking steps to get more ambulances and crews on the road.

"Labour has warned the Government all year about the growing crisis in A&E and the ambulance service but it failed to act. Time is running out and David Cameron urgently needs to give people confidence that his Government has a grip on the seriousness of the situation and a plan to turn things around.”

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