France will start stopping small boats in English Channel after British demands
French officials have consented to begin stopping small boats in the English Channel, following months of insistence from the UK.
This policy shift follows the Prime Minister wrote to the President 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 picked up their passengers, according to authoritative statements.
French authorities have rarely intervened to prevent the heavily loaded boats leaving the coastline because it is considered excessively high a risk to both personnel and individuals.
"It is essential that we deploy these tactics this month... We have no effective prevention in the Channel waters."
Now, a French maritime police representative says officers will begin intervening at sea, with the aim of safeguarding lives.
Significantly, the official excluded the use of entanglement devices to intercept boats, which had previously been reported as a possible technique to disable the propellers of the vessels.
This determination to intervene at all is a major advancement, following a brief shift towards a more aggressive strategy this summer, which dropped off when the former government official departed from government.
That was highlighted in July, in the run-up to a summit between the UK leader and French president, when French police were witnessed walking into the sea to slash the hulls of a boat.
Now French authorities will once more be permitted to stop boats before they collect asylum-seeking individuals from the coastal areas of France's north coast, although it's uncertain how the small boats will be prevented.
Powerful gusts are currently delaying the commencement of intervention operations and the people-smuggling networks will be seeking methods to adapt to avoid detection, as they have frequently done in the past.
The Home Office and the Prime Minister's office have been contacted for response.
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