Ex-schools tsar blames Tories for north-south exam divide

Sir Kevan Collins says government failure to back his 15bn post-Covid catch-up plan caused the stark disparity in this year's English GCSE results

The former schools recovery tsar, Sir Kevan Collins, has blamed the government's failure to back his catch-up plan for the stark north-south divide in last week's GCSE results.

While more than 28.4% of entries received the top grades of 7-9 in London, only 17.6% got these scores in the north-east and 18.6% in the north-west of England. A-levels results showed a similar picture. While in London 30% of A-level grades were graded A or A*, in the north-east it was 22% and in the north-west 24%.