France will start stopping small boats in Channel after UK pressure
France has agreed to begin intercepting small boats in the Channel, following an extended period of insistence from the UK.
The change in policy comes after the British leader sent a letter to the French leader urging him to back the initiative and saying there presently "lack any effective preventive measure" in the maritime passage.
French security forces will be allowed to stop the migrant vessels at sea, but only before they've collected their passengers, according to authoritative confirmation.
French police have rarely acted to stop the heavily loaded boats leaving the coastline because it is viewed as excessively high a danger to both officers and civilians.
"It is crucial that we deploy these tactics this month... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel."
Now, a French maritime police spokesperson states officers will start taking action at sea, with the aim of safeguarding lives.
Notably, the spokesperson excluded the use of nets to stop boats, which had previously been reported as a potential method to disable the engines of the vessels.
This determination to intervene at all is a significant step forward, coming after a short-lived change towards a more aggressive approach this warmer season, which ceased when the former government official departed from government.
That was highlighted in July, in the run-up to a meeting between the UK leader and President, when French police were observed wading into the sea to slash the hulls of a vessel.
Currently French officials will once more be allowed to intercept boats prior to they pick up migrant individuals from the beaches of France's north coast, however it's uncertain how the small boats will be stopped.
Powerful gusts are presently postponing the start of interceptions and the people-smuggling networks will be looking for methods to adjust to evade interception, as they have frequently done in the previous instances.
The Home Office and Downing Street have been contacted for response.
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