🔗 Share this article

French officials have consented to start stopping small boats in the English Channel, following an extended period of insistence from the United Kingdom.

The change in policy comes after the British leader wrote to the French leader asking him to back the plan and saying there currently "have no effective deterrent" in the Channel.

French maritime police will be allowed to intercept the small boats at sea, but only before they've collected their migrants, according to authoritative confirmation.

French authorities have rarely intervened to stop the heavily loaded boats departing from the coastline because it is viewed as excessively high a danger to both officers and individuals.

"It is crucial that we deploy these methods this month... We have no effective prevention in the Channel."

Currently, a French naval police representative says officers will start taking action at sea, with the objective of safeguarding lives.

Notably, the spokesperson excluded the use of entanglement devices to stop boats, which had previously been suggested as a possible technique to snarl the engines of the boats.

This determination to intervene at all is a significant advancement, coming after a brief shift towards a stricter strategy this warmer season, which dropped off when the previous government official departed from government.

This was demonstrated in the summer month, in the run-up to a meeting between the UK leader and French president, when French police were observed wading into the sea to damage the sides of a boat.

Currently French authorities will once more be permitted to intercept boats before they pick up asylum-seeking individuals from the beaches of northern France, however it's not clear how the small boats will be stopped.

Strong winds are presently delaying the commencement of interceptions and the people-smuggling gangs will be seeking ways to adjust to avoid detection, as they have frequently done in the previous instances.

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

Related Updates

• Reasons Britain can't just send back migrants to France
• French government backing away from pledge to stop asylum boats