France will start intercepting migrant vessels in Channel after British demands

French officials have consented to start stopping small boats in the Channel, after months of insistence from the UK.

This policy shift follows the British leader wrote to the French leader urging him to support the plan and stating there presently "have no effective deterrent" in the Channel.

French security forces will be allowed to stop the small boats at sea, but only before they've collected their migrants, according to authoritative statements.

French authorities have infrequently acted to prevent the heavily loaded boats leaving the coastline because it is considered too great a danger to both personnel and civilians.

"It is crucial that we implement these tactics this period... We have zero effective deterrent in the Channel."

Now, a French maritime police spokesperson states officers will start taking action at sea, with the aim of safeguarding lives.

Significantly, the spokesperson excluded the use of nets to intercept boats, which had previously been reported as a possible technique to snarl the engines of the vessels.

The decision to take action at all is a significant step forward, following a brief change towards a more aggressive strategy this summer, which dropped off when the former government official left office.

This was demonstrated in July, in the run-up to a meeting between the Prime Minister and French president, when French police were witnessed walking into the sea to damage the hulls of a vessel.

Currently French authorities will again be permitted to intercept boats before they collect asylum-seeking passengers from the beaches of northern France, however it's uncertain how the small boats will be prevented.

Powerful gusts are currently postponing the start of interceptions and the people-smuggling networks will be looking for methods to adapt to evade interception, as they have done so often in the previous instances.

The Home Office and the Prime Minister's office have been contacted for response.

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