Plaid Cymru’s Delyth Jewell MS has welcomed the Welsh Government’s U-turn on student grading.

They had insisted that they would stand by their decision to stick with the unfair system that saw many young people’s futures shattered by an algorithm.

But following a protest that was attended by hundreds as well as a mounting cacophony of revolt by students, parents and opposition parties, Kirsty Williams announced that grades would be awarded based on teacher assessment.

Speaking following the announcement, Delyth Jewell MS said: “I’m delighted on behalf of all the students who have achieved a tremendous political victory by making their voices heard loud and clear – justice has prevailed.

“The Welsh Government should never have allowed such unfairness to stand in the first place and Labour have questions to answer for causing such unnecessary distress for so many students.

“The feeling in the protest outside the Senedd yesterday where I spoke on behalf of Plaid Cymru was one of deep passion that such blatant unfairness could not be allowed to stand.”

Referring to the fact that 16 and 17 year-olds will be able to vote in the Senedd election next year for the first time, Delyth Jewell added: “I hope that the young people of Wales will have enjoyed their first taste of political success, and would urge them to use their new democratic rights to vote in next year’s Welsh Parliament election.”

Speaking outside the Senedd yesterday, she added: “I represent South Wales East in this Senedd – it’s a region of our nation that is proud, that is industrious, that is poor. But our poverty is not something that we accept – the valleys have always prized education as the route out of its poverty.

“I come from a family of teachers – my mother was a teacher, two of my grandparents were teachers, my sister is a lecturer. My family instilled in me a sense that anything is possible if you work hard.

“But this week, the young people from my area – some of whom will be here today – were told that, however hard they had worked, it didn’t matter. An algorithm knew better.

“I feel your anger. You’ve been let down. We owe more to you than this remote, removed system. You’re being treated like statistics. And you’re not statistics. You are the future of Wales. And your futures are more important than any ledger written in any book or computer system. You are more important than that.

“Sometimes the thing that is morally right is also the simplest thing to do. Do the right thing."