Politics

This is a U-turn long in the making but short in the offing. As recently as Saturday night, government sources were insisting that, without standardisation, they would be fighting accusations of rampant grade inflation and worthless A-levels. Ultimately though, the alternative was worse. Image: Education Secretary Gavin Williamson may be fearing for his job after

The government and the exams regulator are being threatened with legal action as pressure mounts for a rethink over the awarding of A-level grades. Hundreds of angry students are demonstrating in Westminster, with some chanting “get Gav gone” and “come out Gavin” as they protested outside Education Secretary Gavin Williamson’s departmental building. Footage has also

Senior Conservative MPs are calling on Boris Johnson to consider delaying the publication of this week’s GCSE results until the problems with A-levels have been resolved. The prime minister is under pressure to intervene to end the deepening A-levels crisis in England, amid growing anger among pupils, teachers and MPs, including from his own party.

The government has launched a drive to reassure the public that it is safe to get back in to classrooms when schools reopen next month. The #backtoschoolsafely campaign is aiming to make parents aware of the measures being put into minimise the risk of coronavirus transmission, in an effort to restore full time education in

The new co-chair of the Corbyn-supporting campaign group Momentum has accused Labour of trying to “destroy” left-wing elements of the party. The comments by Gaya Sriskanthan are in response to an email from Labour‘s general secretary, in which he said debates aimed at rejecting an internationally agreed definition of antisemitism should not take place within

Travellers returning from France must now self-isolate for 14 days as new quarantine restrictions have come into force. Tens of thousands of British tourists in France joined a desperate scramble to return in time to avoid 14-day self-isolation rules which took effect from 4am today. People snapped up the last available tickets for planes, trains

Labour is demanding ministers ditch a controversial algorithm and use predicted grades from pupils’ teachers for A-level results in England. The party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner told Sky News that the algorithm was “flawed” and has “baked in inequalities”. Thousands of teenagers have voiced anger and disappointment after having their marks downgraded. A-Level results: The

Boris Johnson has said his government will be “absolutely ruthless” in deciding whether travellers from France must quarantine for 14 days on arrival in the UK. The prime minister said officials would be looking at the latest data later on Thursday amid mounting concern about the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country. The

The government has launched trials of a second contact-tracing app using technology provided by Google and Apple, after its first attempt to build a homegrown app ended in failure. The new app will tell people whether they have been close to someone who has had coronavirus and send out alerts advising them to self-isolate. It

The prime minister has vowed to rebuild a “stronger than ever” economy and highlighted the need for co-operation between central and devolved government. Ahead of a visit to Northern Ireland, Boris Johnson acknowledged the close working relationship between Westminster and the power-sharing administration at Stormont. He will meet first minister Arlene Foster and deputy first

The education secretary says he won’t apologise for changing how exams are graded after he came under fire on the eve of A-level results being revealed. Gavin Williamson said by allowing pupils to use their best results from mock exams, or a moderated system or by taking exams in October, students would “benefit”. “I won’t

A-level students in England will be able to use grades in mock exams to progress to university and college courses and employment, the education secretary is set to announce. The change forms part of what Gavin Williamson has called a “triple lock” to give students confidence in the moderation system, which can see predicted results

Exam results in Scotland that were downgraded by a controversial moderation process will be withdrawn, the Scottish education secretary has announced. John Swinney told the Scottish parliament that the 124,564 results affected will revert to the grades estimated by the pupils’ teachers. He said he was directing the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) to “reissue those

Universities have been urged by the UK Government to be flexible in their admissions ahead of A-level results day this week. The eleventh hour move is in response to claims that the university places of thousands of pupils in England are in peril amid exam chaos. Experts have warned that pupils whose marks are downgraded

The UK has to look at the “legal framework” for migrants crossing the English Channel, the prime minister has said. Boris Johnson said he wanted to work with France to stop the crossings and ensure that migrants “understand that this isn’t a good idea, this is a very bad and stupid and dangerous and criminal

Boris Johnson knows that reopening England’s schools is a tricky political test he can’t afford to flunk. After June’s false start, the prime minister has now made it clear he will do everything he can to get children learning again and keep them learning. But that could involve trade-offs as other sectors are forced to