In August 2020 he was subject to a vote of no confidence in Parliament, with the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats all accusing Swinney of creating an exam results system which "unfairly penalised pupils at schools which had historically not performed so well". Swinney claimed there was "no evidence" the system disadvantaged poorer pupils. The No Confidence vote, tabled by Scottish Labour MSP Iain Gray, was defeated by 67 votes to 58 resulting in Swinney surviving the vote and remaining as Scottish Education Secretary.