French authorities to begin stopping migrant vessels in Channel after UK pressure
France has agreed to begin intercepting migrant vessels in the Channel, following months of insistence from the UK.
This policy shift comes after the Prime Minister wrote to the President urging him to back the plan and saying there currently "have no effective deterrent" in the Channel.
French maritime police will be allowed to stop the migrant vessels at sea, but only before they've picked up their migrants, according to official statements.
French authorities have rarely acted to stop the heavily loaded boats leaving the coastline because it is viewed as too great a danger to both officers and individuals.
"It is essential that we implement these methods this period... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel."
Currently, a French maritime police representative says officers will begin intervening at sea, with the aim of protecting human life.
Significantly, the official excluded the use of entanglement devices to intercept boats, which had earlier been suggested as a potential technique to snarl the engines of the boats.
This determination to take action at all is a significant step forward, coming after a brief change towards a stricter approach this summer, which dropped off when the former government official departed from office.
This was demonstrated in July, in the run-up to a summit between the UK leader and French president, when authorities were observed walking into the sea to slash the sides of a boat.
Now French officials will once more be permitted to intercept boats before they pick up asylum-seeking passengers from the coastal areas of northern France, however it's not clear how the vessels will be stopped.
Strong winds are presently delaying the commencement of intervention operations and the people-smuggling gangs will be seeking methods to adapt to evade detection, as they have done so often in the previous instances.
UK immigration authorities and the Prime Minister's office have been contacted for comment.
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