ASYLUM seekers coming into the UK on small boats travelling over the English Channel or the back of lorries will be electronically tagged as part of a Home Office trial programme.

The department said the 12-month pilot, which began on Wednesday (June 15), will test whether electronic monitoring is an effective way to give immigration bail to those who arrive in the country using “unnecessary and dangerous” routes.

It comes after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday (June 14) granted an injunction that resulted in a chartered aircraft to Kigali being unable to depart Wiltshire.

Home Secretary Priti Patel accused the ECHR of being politically motivated in its “absolutely scandalous” decision, while Justice Secretary Dominic Raab suggested new laws could ensure that interim measures from the Strasbourg court could effectively be ignored by the Government.

South Wales Argus: The tagging trial will be used for those who arrive in the UK in boats over the English Channel (PA)The tagging trial will be used for those who arrive in the UK in boats over the English Channel (PA) (Image: PA)

The BBC reported the first to be tagged under the bail programme were likely to be those who had avoided being removed to Rwanda.

As part of this trial the Home Office is testing whether tagging aids regular contact with those given bail and progresses their claims more effectively.

Those tagged will have to regularly report in person to authorities, may be subject to a curfew or excluded from certain locations, and failure to comply could see them returned to detention or prosecuted.

It comes after new figures revealed the number of people crossing the Channel to reach Britain this year has passed 11,000.

Analysis of Ministry of Defence data by the PA news agency shows 11,092 people have been brought to shore by Border Force or the RNLI after being rescued from small boats in the Channel, the world’s busiest shipping lane.