🔗 Share this article

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

This policy shift comes after the Prime Minister sent a letter to the French leader asking him to back the initiative and stating there presently "have no 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 migrants, according to authoritative statements.

French police have infrequently intervened to prevent the heavily loaded boats departing from the coastline because it is viewed as too great a danger to both personnel and civilians.

"It is essential that we deploy these methods this month... We have no effective deterrent in the Channel."

Now, a French maritime police representative states personnel will start taking action at sea, with the objective of protecting lives.

Significantly, the spokesperson ruled out the use of entanglement devices to stop 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 short-lived change towards a stricter approach this summer, which dropped off when the former government official left government.

This was demonstrated in July, in the run-up to a summit between the Prime Minister and French president, when authorities were witnessed wading into the sea to slash the sides of a vessel.

Now French authorities will once more be permitted to intercept boats prior to they collect migrant individuals from the coastal areas of northern France, however it's not clear how the small boats will be stopped.

Strong winds are currently postponing the commencement of interceptions and the human trafficking networks will be looking for methods to adapt to evade interception, as they have frequently done in the past.

UK immigration authorities and Downing Street have been approached for response.

Connected Updates

• Why UK can't just return migrants to France
• France backing away from pledge to stop migrant boats