Boris Johnson has defended plans to electronically tag refugees

He said it is important to make sure asylum seekers "can't just vanish"

A new Home Office trial could see asylum seekers electronically tagged and given a curfew - an idea which the Prime Minister has defended. Boris Johnson said it was important to "make sure asylum seekers can't just vanish into the rest of the country". Speaking to reporters at RAF Brize Norton, following a trip to Kyiv, the PM said: "This is a very, very generous welcoming country. Quite right too. I am proud of it, but when people come here illegally, when they break the law, it is important that we make that distinction. "That is what we are doing with our Rwanda policy. That is what we are doing with making sure that asylum seekers can't just vanish into the rest of the country." [caption id="attachment_330674" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Priti Patel has already started preparing for another flight to Rwanda to go ahead (Credit: Getty)[/caption] The plan comes just days after the first flight due to take asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda was cancelled, after a last-minute intervention by the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). Though Home Secretary Priti Patel was quick to announce that she had already begun preparation for the next flight. What's more, is that the first people to be tagged are likely to be those who were successfully removed from the flight, BBC reports. [caption id="attachment_342630" align="alignnone" width="2048"] The Rwanda deportation flight EC-LZO Boeing 767 at Boscombe Down Air Base in Wiltshire was grounded (Credit: Getty)[/caption] Asylum seekers, who have fled persecution in small boats or on the back of lorries, would have to regularly report to an immigration centre or police station if given a tag. Critics say the plan treats them as criminals. Related stories:

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• Priti Patel 'very surprised' after Rwanda flight cancelled and preparations have begun for next one