France will start stopping migrant vessels in Channel following British demands

France has agreed to begin intercepting migrant vessels in the Channel, following an extended period of pressure from the United Kingdom.

The change in policy comes after the Prime Minister sent a letter to the French leader asking him to support the initiative and stating there currently "have no effective preventive measure" in the Channel.

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

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

"It is essential that we implement these methods this period... We have no effective prevention in the Channel waters."

Currently, a French maritime police representative states officers will begin taking action at sea, with the objective of protecting human life.

Notably, the spokesperson ruled out the use of entanglement devices to intercept boats, which had earlier been reported as a possible technique to snarl the engines of the vessels.

This determination to take action at all is a major advancement, following a short-lived shift towards a more aggressive strategy this summer, which ceased when the previous Interior Minister left government.

This was demonstrated in the summer month, preceding a summit between the UK leader and President, when French police were witnessed wading into the sea to slash the sides of a boat.

Now French authorities will once more be allowed to intercept boats before they pick up asylum-seeking individuals from the beaches of France's north coast, although it's not clear how the small boats will be prevented.

Strong winds are presently delaying the commencement of interceptions and the human trafficking networks will be seeking methods to adapt to avoid detection, as they have frequently done in the previous instances.

UK immigration authorities and Downing Street have been contacted for response.

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