France will start stopping small boats in Channel after UK pressure
France has agreed to begin stopping small boats in the English Channel, after months of insistence from the United Kingdom.
The change in policy follows the British leader sent a letter to the French leader urging him to back the initiative and stating there presently "lack any effective deterrent" in the Channel.
French maritime police will be allowed to stop the migrant vessels at sea, but exclusively prior to they've collected their migrants, according to authoritative confirmation.
French police have rarely intervened to prevent the heavily loaded boats departing from the coastline because it is viewed as excessively high a risk to both officers and individuals.
"It is crucial that we deploy these methods this month... We have no effective deterrent in the Channel waters."
Currently, a French naval police spokesperson states personnel will start intervening at sea, with the aim of safeguarding lives.
Notably, the spokesperson excluded the use of nets to intercept boats, which had earlier been suggested as a potential technique to disable the propellers of the boats.
This determination to take action at all is a major step forward, coming after a brief change towards a more aggressive strategy this summer, which dropped off when the previous Interior Minister left office.
This was demonstrated in July, in the run-up to a summit between the UK leader and President, when authorities were witnessed wading into the sea to slash the hulls of a vessel.
Currently French officials will again be allowed to stop boats prior to they pick up asylum-seeking individuals from the coastal areas of France's north coast, although it's uncertain how the small boats will be stopped.
Strong winds are presently postponing the commencement of interceptions and the human trafficking networks will be seeking ways to adapt to evade detection, as they have frequently done in the previous instances.
The Home Office and Downing Street have been approached for comment.
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