French authorities will start stopping small boats in Channel following British demands

French officials have consented to begin stopping migrant vessels in the English Channel, after months of insistence from the UK.

The change in policy follows the British leader wrote to the French leader asking him to back the initiative and saying there currently "lack any effective preventive measure" in the Channel.

French security forces will be allowed to intercept the small boats at sea, but only before they've picked up their migrants, according to authoritative statements.

French authorities have rarely intervened to stop the overcrowded boats departing from the coastline because it is viewed as excessively high a risk to both officers and civilians.

"It is crucial that we implement these methods this month... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel."

Now, a French maritime police representative says personnel will start intervening at sea, with the objective of safeguarding human life.

Notably, the spokesperson ruled out the use of entanglement devices to intercept boats, which had previously been reported as a potential technique to disable the engines of the boats.

The decision to intervene at all is a major step forward, coming after a brief change towards a more aggressive approach this summer, which dropped off when the former government official departed from government.

That was highlighted in the summer month, preceding a summit between the UK leader and French president, when French police were observed wading into the sea to slash the hulls of a boat.

Now French officials will once more be allowed to stop boats prior to they collect migrant individuals from the coastal areas of France's north coast, although it's not clear how the vessels will be prevented.

Strong winds are presently postponing the start of intervention operations and the people-smuggling networks will be looking for methods 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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