Cleverly accused of aggravating asylum backlog by ‘dithering’ on key decisions

Exclusive: Ministers under last home secretary refused to empower caseworkers to tackle crisis, say sources

James Cleverly has been accused of increasing the asylum backlog in the spring of this year by dithering" over key decisions.

Ministers under the then home secretary refused to give caseworkers permission to tackle outstanding cases covered by the Illegal Migration Act, departmental sources and the UK's biggest civil service union have told the Guardian.