As it happened: 45% of pupils get top A-level grades - BBC News
Because of the pandemic grades have been determined by teacher's estimates.
Labour's shadow education secretary Kate Green has been speaking to the BBC after top grades for A-level results for England, Wales and Northern Ireland hit a record high.

She says we should "recognise and congratulate" students on their results after a year of disruption to their education and paid tribute to teachers and staff in universities and colleges for working to ensure young people got fair grades.

However, Green says she is "concerned" about the "inequities" between regions and the different education sectors in the results.

For example, in London, 47.9% were A* and A grades, while in the north-east of England, it was 39.2%.

She adds: "I think there are real inequities to be concerned about in these results and that was to a degree inevitable because the government left it to schools to decide how they would carry out assessments and we know that means students haven't been assessed identically in every school, in every part of the country."

Green adds there are "real lessons" to be learned about what extra help and protections are needed "to compensate for some of these inequities that we've got in the results".

Green insists the "focus" should now be on next steps if students haven't got the grades they feel they should have, with an appeals process that works "swiftly and smoothly" to help them - especially those whose university places depend on it, while also protecting those from less privileged backgrounds.

As the government hopes for a return to exams next year, Green urges ministers to give schools the plans for this now so they can prepare students properly for what the assessment process is going to be like.