Johnson defends 'draconian' plan to tag asylum seekers

The prime minister says the scheme is intended to stop asylum seekers 'vanishing'

- ASHLEY COWBURN and COLIN DRURY

Boris Johnson has defended "draconian" Home Office plans to use electronic tags on asylum seekers arriving in Britain across the Channel on small boats or in lorries. Despite campaigners warning that the policy would see people who have fled conflict treated as "criminals", the prime minister said it was essential that people could not simply "vanish” after arriving in the UK.

Mr Johnson also insisted that the government would press ahead with its contentious policy of deporting some asylum seekers to Rwanda, after ministers were forced to abandon the scheme's inaugural flight on Tuesday evening when last-minute legal injunctions were issued following an intervention by the European Court of Human Rights.

The Home Office said that the 12-month tagging pilot - which will apply to adults who have travelled to the UK via "unnecessary and dangerous routes" - will test whether the scheme helps to maintain regular contact with asylum claimants, and whether it results in their claims being processed more efficiently.