Many young people, parents, teachers and staff from St Helens further education settings have contacted me today to express real concerns about BTEC, vocational and technical exams due to take place this week.

With schools closed, our country in lockdown and communities facing perilous infection rates, halting BTEC examinations must surely now be the right and responsible course of action. Fair and safe alternative arrangements can then be made for BTEC students in a similar way to their GCSE and A-Level counterparts.

BTEC students have been shamefully overlooked by Government Ministers, and I join Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary is calling for them to listen and act now.