French authorities to begin stopping small boats in English Channel following UK pressure
France has agreed to start stopping small boats in the English Channel, after months of insistence from the UK.
This policy shift comes after the British leader sent a letter 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 small boats at sea, but only before they've collected their migrants, according to authoritative confirmation.
French police have rarely acted to stop the overcrowded boats departing from the shoreline because it is considered too great a risk to both personnel and individuals.
"It is crucial that we implement these methods this period... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel waters."
Currently, a French maritime police representative says personnel will start intervening at sea, with the aim of protecting lives.
Notably, the official excluded the use of nets to stop boats, which had earlier been reported as a possible method to snarl the engines of the vessels.
This determination to intervene at all is a major advancement, coming after a short-lived shift towards a stricter approach this summer, which ceased when the previous Interior Minister left office.
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 witnessed wading into the sea to slash the hulls of a vessel.
Now French officials will again be allowed to stop boats before they pick up asylum-seeking passengers from the beaches of northern France, however it's uncertain how the vessels will be stopped.
Powerful gusts are currently postponing the start of intervention operations and the human trafficking gangs will be seeking methods to adapt to avoid interception, as they have frequently done in the past.
UK immigration authorities and Downing Street have been approached for response.
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