'This is a victory for all students who fought this injustice' - Warwick and Leamington MP salutes pupils who forced government to change its mind over A-level results

Warwick and Leamington MP Matt Western says the government's U-turn on A-levels is a 'victory for all students who fought this injustice'.

Yesterday (August 17) the Department of Education said it would now base A-level results on teachers' assessed grades and scrap its controversial algorithm plan, which meant nearly 40 per cent of all grades were marked down.

Students at Warwickshire College were particularly impacted by downgrading.

Mr Western wrote to the Secretary of State for Education yesterday morning to call on the Government to urgently honour the grades awarded to students by their teachers, as ‘time is of the essence’.

He said: ‘After representations from myself, colleagues, local students and teachers, the Government’s U-turn yesterday is welcome and a huge relief for many local students.

"This is a victory for all local A-Level and GCSE students that fought this injustice and have made their voices heard over this past week.

"However, I’m dismayed that the Government has taken this long to come to this decision, after Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, and only when they have had their hand forced by public pressure.

"The Government was warned about the implications of the marking system as early as April. Yet they failed to act as many local students have sadly lost their University places; they now meet the grades but the places have already been filled."

As the solution, the Government has announced that it will lift the cap on the number of students each university can take this year.

However the University sector has warned that it may struggle to manage higher numbers of students safely.