OTLEY'S MP Alex Sobel is calling on the Government to "trust our teachers" amid the outcry over A level results.

Mr Sobel, who represents Leeds North West, criticised the "ongoing fiasco" in which more than 40 per cent of students had their results downgraded, particularly those in lower economic areas.

He said: "This has been a very difficult time for everybody and there are no easy answers when it comes to making an assessment of something so important as a grade for A levels.

"That said, it is now clear that the Government have completely bungled this and have put the futures of many young people, including many in my constituency, at risk.

"It is time that we trusted our teachers and backed their considered assessments. Surely it is better to have decisions made by experienced professionals based on performance than an algorithm which downgrades results based on some sort of postcode lottery.

"I want to look all of our young people in the eye from Yeadon to Bramhope and say that they all have the opportunity to be assessed fairly, even in the most trying of circumstances. Anything else is a failure on behalf of the Government."

The Government has defended the grades and said that pupils would be able to appeal or sit exams in the autumn.