France will start intercepting small boats in English Channel after UK pressure
France has agreed to begin stopping small boats in the English Channel, after months of insistence from the UK.
This policy shift follows the Prime Minister sent a letter to the French leader urging him to back the plan and saying there presently "lack any effective preventive measure" in the Channel.
French security forces will be allowed to stop the small boats at sea, but only before they've collected their passengers, according to authoritative statements.
French authorities have infrequently acted to stop the heavily loaded boats leaving the shoreline because it is considered excessively high a danger to both personnel and civilians.
"It is essential that we deploy these methods this month... We have no effective deterrent in the Channel."
Now, a French maritime police spokesperson states officers will begin intervening at sea, with the objective of safeguarding human life.
Significantly, the official excluded the use of entanglement devices to intercept boats, which had earlier been reported as a possible method to disable the engines of the boats.
This determination to take action at all is a significant advancement, following a short-lived change towards a stricter strategy this summer, which ceased when the former Interior Minister left government.
That was highlighted in the summer month, preceding a meeting between the UK leader and French president, when French police were witnessed wading into the sea to damage the hulls of a vessel.
Currently French authorities will once more be allowed to intercept boats before they collect asylum-seeking passengers from the coastal areas of France's north coast, although it's uncertain how the vessels will be stopped.
Powerful gusts are currently postponing the commencement of intervention operations and the human trafficking networks will be seeking methods to adapt to evade interception, as they have frequently done in the past.
UK immigration authorities and Downing Street have been approached for response.
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