Clive Johnson, Medway Labour and Cooperative Group Shadow Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, today said, ‘Medway Labour are glad that the government has finally seen sense and abandoned its ridiculous and untested exam algorithm which has brought so much unnecessary distress to young people.

‘This whole debacle could have been avoided by a system which supported teacher assessments and the government has had long enough to develop and test a proper system to cover this year’s assessments.  They failed to do so, and it is time for the Secretary of State to take responsibility for his failure.

‘Unfortunately, this belated decision has not resolved all the issues.  Universities are now thrown into chaos, having started to allocate places on the basis of last week’s flawed results.  We still don’t know the impact on BTECs and other vocational qualifications or the impact on young people who have been home-schooled. This government and its predecessors have created an examination system which lacks resilience, having removed coursework and AS levels as a stepping stone to the full A Level.

‘It is not good enough for Gavin Williamson to apologise. His incompetence has caused untold distress to many young people this year and he should resign.’