France will start intercepting small boats in Channel after British demands

French officials have consented to begin stopping small boats in the English Channel, following months of pressure from the UK.

This policy shift follows the British leader sent a letter to the President asking him to back the initiative and saying there presently "lack any effective preventive measure" in the maritime passage.

French maritime police will be allowed to stop the migrant vessels at sea, but only before they've picked up their migrants, according to official confirmation.

French police have infrequently acted to prevent the heavily loaded boats leaving the coastline because it is viewed as excessively high a danger to both personnel and civilians.

"It is crucial that we implement these methods this month... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel."

Currently, a French maritime police spokesperson says personnel will start taking action at sea, with the objective of protecting lives.

Significantly, the official ruled out the use of entanglement devices to stop boats, which had previously been reported as a potential technique to disable the propellers of the vessels.

This determination to take action at all is a major step forward, following a short-lived shift towards a more aggressive strategy this summer, which ceased when the previous government official departed from office.

That was highlighted in July, preceding a meeting between the UK leader and French president, when authorities were witnessed walking into the sea to slash the sides of a vessel.

Currently French authorities will once more be permitted to stop boats before they collect migrant passengers from the beaches of France's north coast, however it's not clear how the vessels will be prevented.

Strong winds are presently postponing the start of intervention operations and the human trafficking gangs will be looking for ways to adjust to evade interception, as they have done so often in the past.

The Home Office and Downing Street have been approached for comment.

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