France will start stopping small boats in Channel following UK pressure
France has agreed to start intercepting migrant vessels in the English Channel, following months of insistence from the United Kingdom.
The change in policy comes after the British leader wrote to the President urging him to back the plan and saying there currently "have no effective preventive measure" in the Channel.
French security forces will be allowed to intercept the migrant vessels at sea, but only before they've picked up their passengers, according to official confirmation.
French police have rarely intervened to stop the overcrowded boats leaving the shoreline because it is viewed as excessively high a risk to both personnel and individuals.
"It is essential that we implement these methods this month... We have zero effective deterrent in the Channel."
Now, a French maritime police representative states officers will begin taking action at sea, with the objective of protecting lives.
Significantly, the spokesperson ruled out the use of entanglement devices to stop boats, which had previously been suggested as a potential method to disable the engines of the boats.
The decision to intervene at all is a significant advancement, following a short-lived change towards a more aggressive strategy this summer, which dropped off when the former government official departed from office.
That was highlighted in the summer month, in the run-up to a meeting between the UK leader and President, when French police were witnessed walking into the sea to damage the hulls of a boat.
Now French authorities will once more be permitted to intercept boats prior to they pick up migrant individuals from the beaches of France's north coast, however it's not clear how the small boats will be stopped.
Powerful gusts are presently postponing the commencement of intervention operations and the people-smuggling networks will be looking for methods to adjust to avoid interception, as they have frequently done in the previous instances.
UK immigration authorities and Downing Street have been contacted for response.
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