about wider transparency in the

ambulance service, which is facing

the worst crisis in response times

since records began. In all ten of

England’s ambulance trusts,

response times to 999 calls have

collapsed as paramedics are forced

to wait outside overstretched A&E

departments for hours.

In another case involving the

NEAS, a 62-year-old man died after

his oxygen machine cut out. NHS

leaders withheld evidence that

would have explained a 34-minute

delay in attending the man’s home.

THE 999

COVER-UP

PAGES 8-

The prime minister is trying to

shoe-horn in the Scotland Yard

chief who presided over the disas-

trous VIP child sex abuse inquiry as

head of the National Crime Agency,

Britain’s equivalent of the FBI.

Lord Hogan-Howe is still being

considered for director-general of

the NCA even though he failed to

make it into the final round of can-

didates. In a move likely to raise

questions of cronyism, No 10 is

understood to have knocked back

two highly qualified police chiefs

interviewed by Priti Patel, the

home secretary.

It leaves open the possibility of

Hogan-Howe, an ally of the prime

minister, being parachuted into

the £223,000-a-year role despite

overseeing the Operation Midland

investigation, which falsely

accused distinguished public fig-

ures of paedophilia.

Harvey Proctor, a former Tory

MP whose life was ruined by the

malicious claims, said that

appointing the former Metropoli-

tan Police commissioner to lead

the NCA would be “outrageous”.

He added: “He presided over the

worst police operation in this

country for decades.”

Johnson forged a close bond

with Hogan-Howe, 64, in his time

as mayor of London and in 2019

the retired Met chief endorsed

Johnson’s Tory leadership bid.

In a video posted on Twitter,

Hogan-Howe described Johnson as

“incredibly” effective. “I found

him to be loyal, honourable and he

did what he promised to do.”

The top job at the NCA, which

leads the fight against organised

RICH LIST

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INSIDE

NHS covered

up ambulance

deaths scandal

PM backs

discredited

police chief

for top job

Dipesh Gadher

Home Affairs Correspondent

FLOATING VOTER

An ambulance trust has been
caught covering up damning evi-
dence about deaths linked to mis-
takes by paramedics. Managers fil-
tered out inconvenient facts from
reports to present cases in a better
light and kept families and coro-
ners from learning the full truth.
Concerns have been raised
about more than 90 cases in which
whistleblowers say the North East
Ambulance Service (NEAS) pre-
vented relatives from knowing the
full truth about how their loved
ones died.
In the case of a 17-year-old girl,
Quinn Evie Beadle, senior staff
removed key evidence from a file
given to the coroner. The doctored
report lost references to a para-
medic who had mistakenly not
tried to resuscitate her after arriv-
ing at the scene.
A claim that any life support
offered would “not have had a pos-
itive outcome” was inserted. A key
piece of evidence — a reading from
a monitor that detected activity in
Quinn’s heart — was also withheld
from the coroner.
The revelations raise questions

David Collins,
Hannah Al-Othman
and Shaun Lintern

Trust managers altered files to hide mistakes

by staff from coroners and grieving families

In a third, a 32-year-old man

died after waiting 67 minutes for an

ambulance despite stating he was

having breathing problems. An

internal panel downgraded his

harm classification from “moder-

ate” to “low”, despite expert evi-

dence that the delay was “likely to

have contributed” to his death.

The deaths happened in 2018

and 2019. During that period NEAS

staff responsible for dealing with

the coroner had begun to com-

plain that documents relating to

emergency responses were being

withheld or altered to cover up

blunders by paramedics.

An audit commissioned by the

service and based on six sample

cases was completed in June 2020,

confirming the suspicions. Its chief

executive, Helen Ray, said she had

fixed the problem by making

changes to the disclosure process.

But whistleblowers claim the

cover-up of troublesome cases

continued until at least July last

year. They went on to warn senior

NEAS staff, the Care Quality Com-

mission and Northumbria police

about what they believed to be a

“large-scale” cover-up affecting

dozens of families.

Their allegations and the audit’s

Continued on page 2→ Continued on page 2→

Jim Finn gets out of the water to cast his vote at Bondi Beach in Sydney, holding daughter Allegra, aged

eight months. Anthony Albanese has been elected Australia’s new prime minister Full story, page 5

LOREN ELLIOTT/REUTERS

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Rishi Sunak is planning a windfall

tax for energy companies with a

lower rate for firms prepared to

invest billions of pounds in the

economy.

The chancellor’s policies to help

with the rising cost of living — due

to be announced next month —

would be funded by taxing profits

banked by BP, Shell and others.

Those that agreed to increase

investment would be treated more

leniently.

The plan follows weeks of con-

fusion and cabinet backbiting over

how to deal with the cost-of-living

crisis.

In a renewed sign of tensions at

the top, Downing Street officials

made clear that Boris Johnson was

prepared to support the idea only

if Sunak put some of the proceeds

into the prime minister’s preferred

projects, such as nuclear power

stations and offshore wind farms.

No 10 is known to be frustrated

that the Treasury has made build-

ing energy infrastructure “excruci-

atingly difficult”.

Downing Street is also con-

cerned that simply funding “pain

relief ” handouts to households

struggling to pay bills will quickly

be forgotten by voters, who gave

the government little credit after

receiving £22 billion, including a

fuel duty cut, in Sunak’s spring

statement. Instead they want bil-

lions of pounds diverted to long-

term “surgery” that will boost the

economy for years to come.

Johnson and Sunak have been in

talks for days about how to ease the

cost of living. Treasury officials are

also examining plans for a second

council tax rebate and higher

“warm homes” bonuses and win-

ter fuel payments for the most vul-

nerable people.

While no formal windfall tax

plan has been drawn up, officials

familiar with Sunak’s thinking say

he is attracted to a levy as long as it

is not just a “sledgehammer” raid

on fuel firms. “There could be a

more pro-investment way of doing

a windfall tax,” said a source. “You

can peg it to commitments and say

the rate will come down if they

make investments.”

In this scenario officials hope

that, far from depressing invest-

ment that might help economic

growth, a windfall tax could be

used to stimulate investment.

In contrast, the prime minister

wants the money raised by a wind-

fall tax to be spent on public infra-

structure that will help reduce Brit-

ain’s exposure to changes in global

oil and gas prices.

In the last government spending

review, Sunak approved £1.7 billion

of direct government funding to

enable plans for nuclear plants to

achieve a final investment

Sunak and Johnson clash over how to spend windfall tax

Tim Shipman

Chief Political Commentator

NEWMAN’S VIEW

Continued on page 2→

INDEX

This week News 2

Weather News 27

Letters News 24

Sudoku News 26

TV & Radio Culture 29