🔗 Share this article

France has agreed to start stopping small boats in the English Channel, after an extended period of insistence from the United Kingdom.

This policy shift comes after the Prime Minister wrote to the President urging him to back the plan and stating there presently "have no effective deterrent" in the Channel.

French security forces will be allowed to intercept the small boats at sea, but exclusively prior to they've collected their migrants, according to official statements.

French police have rarely intervened to prevent the heavily loaded boats departing from the shoreline because it is considered excessively high a risk to both personnel and civilians.

"It is essential that we implement these methods this period... We have zero effective deterrent in the Channel."

Currently, a French maritime police spokesperson states personnel will start 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 previously been suggested as a possible technique to disable the engines of the vessels.

The decision to take action at all is a significant step forward, coming after a short-lived shift towards a more aggressive strategy this summer, which dropped off when the previous Interior Minister left office.

That was highlighted in July, preceding a summit between the Prime Minister and President, when authorities were witnessed wading into the sea to slash the hulls of a vessel.

Now French officials will again be permitted to stop boats prior to they collect migrant passengers from the coastal areas of France's north coast, however it's uncertain how the small boats will be stopped.

Powerful gusts are presently delaying the start of intervention operations and the human trafficking gangs will be looking for ways to adjust to avoid interception, as they have frequently done in the previous instances.

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

Connected Updates

• Why Britain can't just send back asylum seekers to France
• France withdrawing from commitment to intercept migrant boats