French authorities will start stopping small boats in English Channel after British demands
French officials have consented to start intercepting small boats in the English Channel, following months of pressure from the UK.
The change in policy comes after the Prime Minister sent a letter to the President urging him to back the plan and saying there currently "have no effective deterrent" in the Channel.
French maritime police will be allowed to stop the small boats at sea, but only before they've collected their migrants, according to authoritative confirmation.
French authorities have rarely acted to prevent the heavily loaded boats leaving the coastline because it is viewed as too great a danger to both officers and individuals.
"It is essential that we deploy these methods this month... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel."
Now, a French maritime police spokesperson says officers will begin intervening at sea, with the objective of safeguarding human life.
Notably, the official excluded the use of entanglement devices to intercept boats, which had previously been suggested as a potential method to disable the engines of the vessels.
This determination to intervene at all is a significant step forward, coming after a short-lived shift towards a more aggressive strategy this summer, which dropped off when the former government official left government.
This was demonstrated in the summer month, preceding a summit between the UK leader and French president, when French police were witnessed wading into the sea to damage the sides of a boat.
Now French authorities will once more be permitted to stop boats prior to they pick up asylum-seeking passengers from the coastal areas of France's north coast, however it's not clear how the small boats will be prevented.
Strong winds are currently postponing the start of intervention operations and the human trafficking networks will be looking for methods to adjust to avoid detection, as they have done so often in the previous instances.
UK immigration authorities and Downing Street have been contacted for response.
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