A LABOUR MP has slammed the government for 'jeopardising' the futures of thousands of students after their A-level grades were downgraded.

Alex Cunningham, MP for Stockton North, hit out at Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he urged him to "fix the mess" caused by the results day fiasco.

This afternoon, the government confirmed its U-turn and said this year's A-level and GCSE grades would be decided by teacher estimates.

It comes as an Ofqual devised algorithm saw almost 40 percent of predicted grades reduced leaving many unable to obtain their preferred university place.

Mr Cunningham said: “The Government have rightfully performed a u-turn over A-Level grades – but this should never have happened in the first place.

"It shouldn’t take a huge country-wide backlash for the Government to realise their policy was detrimental to thousands of young people who had their futures jeopardised with these results.

"Their futures are still in jeopardy with many young people rejected by their preferred universities.

“The Government could have addressed this before results came out, and they chose not to.

“Now we face a mess where Universities have offered more places than they can accommodate.

"Students who did not meet the grades under the Ofqual system may now have with Teacher Assessed Grades – but Universities have already given away their places.

"The Prime Minister needs to show some leadership and fix this mess.”

This afternoon, Ofqual chairman Roger Taylor apologised for the "uncertainty and anxiety" caused by the algorithm.

He said: “Our goal has always been to protect the trust that the public rightly has in educational qualifications.

“But we recognise that while the approach we adopted attempted to achieve these goals, we also appreciate that it has also caused real anguish and damaged public confidence.

“Expecting schools to submit appeals where grades were incorrect placed a burden on teachers when they need to be preparing for the new term and has created uncertainty and anxiety for students. For all of that, we are extremely sorry.”