France to begin stopping small boats in English Channel following UK pressure
French officials have consented to begin intercepting migrant vessels in the Channel, following months of pressure from the United Kingdom.
The change in policy follows the Prime Minister wrote to the President urging him to back the plan and stating there currently "lack any effective preventive measure" in the maritime passage.
French security forces will be allowed to stop the small boats at sea, but exclusively prior to they've collected their passengers, according to authoritative confirmation.
French authorities have rarely intervened to prevent the heavily loaded boats leaving the coastline because it is considered too great a risk to both officers and civilians.
"It is crucial that we implement these tactics this period... We have no effective deterrent in the Channel waters."
Now, a French naval police spokesperson says personnel will start intervening at sea, with the aim of protecting lives.
Notably, the spokesperson excluded the use of entanglement devices to intercept boats, which had previously been reported as a potential technique to disable the propellers of the vessels.
This determination to take action at all is a major advancement, following a brief change towards a stricter approach this summer, which dropped off when the former government official departed from government.
That was highlighted in July, in the run-up to a meeting between the Prime Minister and President, when French police were witnessed walking into the sea to slash the sides of a vessel.
Now French officials will once more be permitted to stop boats before they collect asylum-seeking passengers from the beaches of France's north coast, however it's uncertain how the vessels will be stopped.
Powerful gusts are currently delaying the start of intervention operations and the people-smuggling gangs will be looking for ways to adjust to evade detection, as they have frequently done in the past.
The Home Office and Downing Street have been contacted for comment.
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