LABOUR shadow health secretary Andy Burnham launched a furious Commons attack on his opposite number, Tory Jeremy Hunt, yesterday after figures suggested 57 patients died after 999 calls were “downgraded” by an ambulance trust.

Mr Burnham accused East of England Ambulance Service of “cruelly rationing” callouts deployed from its emergency centre that saw care arrive late or never.

Fifty-seven people died in three months after the status of their 999 calls was reduced by the cash-strapped trust, figures released yesterday showed.