French authorities will start stopping small boats in English Channel after British demands

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

The change in policy comes after the Prime Minister sent a letter to the French leader urging him to support the initiative and saying there presently "have no effective deterrent" in the maritime passage.

French maritime police will be allowed to stop the small boats at sea, but exclusively prior to they've collected their passengers, according to authoritative confirmation.

French police have rarely acted to stop the heavily loaded boats departing from the coastline because it is viewed as too great a risk to both officers and civilians.

"It is essential that we deploy these methods this period... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel waters."

Now, a French naval police representative states personnel will start intervening at sea, with the objective of safeguarding lives.

Significantly, the spokesperson ruled out the use of entanglement devices to stop boats, which had previously been reported as a possible technique to snarl the engines of the vessels.

The decision to intervene at all is a significant step forward, coming after a brief change towards a stricter strategy this warmer season, which dropped off when the previous government official left government.

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

Now French officials will again be permitted to stop boats before they pick up asylum-seeking individuals from the beaches of France's north coast, although it's uncertain how the vessels will be stopped.

Strong winds are presently delaying the start of intervention operations and the people-smuggling networks will be looking for ways to adjust to avoid detection, as they have done so often in the past.

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

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