🔗 Share this article

French officials have consented to begin stopping small boats in the Channel, after an extended period of pressure from the UK.

This policy shift comes after the British leader wrote to the French leader asking him to support the plan and saying there presently "lack any effective deterrent" in the maritime passage.

French maritime police will be allowed to stop the small boats at sea, but exclusively prior to they've picked up their passengers, according to official statements.

French authorities have rarely 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 implement these methods this month... We have no effective prevention in the Channel waters."

Now, a French maritime police representative says personnel will begin taking action at sea, with the aim of safeguarding lives.

Significantly, the spokesperson excluded the use of nets to stop boats, which had earlier been suggested as a possible technique to disable the engines of the vessels.

This determination to take action at all is a major advancement, following a short-lived shift towards a stricter approach this warmer season, which dropped off when the previous government official departed from government.

This was demonstrated 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 damage the hulls of a boat.

Now French officials will once more be permitted to intercept boats prior to they collect migrant individuals from the beaches of northern France, however it's uncertain how the small boats will be stopped.

Strong winds are presently postponing the start of intervention operations and the human trafficking networks will be seeking methods to adjust to evade interception, as they have frequently done in the previous instances.

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

Connected Updates

• Reasons UK cannot just send back asylum seekers to France
• French government backing away from commitment to stop asylum boats