UK Annual school grades row

Well nearly time for the above,.... again.
I think it's time the world knew about this problem.
The problem with exams is that it's impossible for them to be equally hard.....
Thus in the 70s and before , as well as pre checks on the exams, after the results were in, the pass marks were established - it used to be 45% as a pass mark.
Then someone in government decided to show how good their education [ whatever] policy was and the pass marks started to creep up which has continued to the present day.
Of course, allowing up to 50% of students into unis has inevitably dumbed down the average input - sorry HM , but if the 'elite' already went there, if you increase the intake further, you MUST get less than the elite by definition, and at 50% you are getting totally average guys attending [again by definition !].
Time to come clean I reckon you lot................ Its probably inevitable that the present exams should be scrapped as they are useless as an indicator of prowess, but dont let the 'new' ones go the same way - ie same as the old , but with a lower pass mark.