France will start stopping small boats in English Channel following UK pressure
French officials have consented to start stopping migrant vessels in the English Channel, after an extended period of insistence from the UK.
The change in policy comes after the Prime Minister wrote to the President urging him to back the initiative and saying there presently "have no effective deterrent" in the maritime passage.
French maritime police will be allowed to intercept the migrant vessels at sea, but exclusively prior to they've collected their passengers, according to official confirmation.
French authorities have infrequently intervened to prevent the heavily loaded boats leaving the coastline because it is considered excessively high a danger to both personnel and individuals.
"It is essential that we deploy these methods this period... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel waters."
Now, a French maritime police spokesperson states officers will start taking action at sea, with the objective of safeguarding human life.
Significantly, the official excluded the use of nets to intercept boats, which had previously been suggested as a possible technique to disable the engines of the boats.
The decision to intervene at all is a major step forward, coming after a brief shift towards a more aggressive strategy this summer, which dropped off when the previous government official left office.
This was demonstrated in the summer month, in the run-up to a meeting between the Prime Minister and French president, when French police were witnessed wading into the sea to damage the hulls of a vessel.
Currently French officials will once more be allowed to stop boats prior to they collect asylum-seeking passengers from the coastal areas of France's north coast, however it's uncertain how the small boats will be stopped.
Powerful gusts are currently delaying the commencement of interceptions and the people-smuggling networks will be seeking ways to adapt to avoid detection, as they have frequently done in the previous instances.
UK immigration authorities and Downing Street have been approached for response.
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