French authorities to begin stopping migrant vessels in English Channel after British demands
France has agreed to begin intercepting migrant vessels in the Channel, after an extended period of pressure from the United Kingdom.
The change in policy follows the Prime Minister wrote to the President asking him to support the plan and saying there presently "lack any effective deterrent" in the Channel.
French security forces will be allowed to stop the migrant vessels at sea, but only before they've collected their passengers, according to authoritative confirmation.
French authorities have infrequently intervened to prevent the heavily loaded boats leaving the shoreline because it is viewed as excessively high a danger to both personnel and individuals.
"It is essential that we deploy these tactics this month... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel."
Currently, a French maritime police representative states personnel will start taking action at sea, with the objective of safeguarding lives.
Significantly, the spokesperson ruled out the use of nets to intercept boats, which had previously been reported as a possible technique to disable the engines of the boats.
The decision to intervene at all is a significant step forward, following a short-lived change towards a stricter strategy this summer, which dropped off when the previous government official departed from office.
That was highlighted in July, in the run-up to a summit between the Prime Minister and President, when French police were witnessed wading into the sea to slash the hulls of a boat.
Currently French officials will again be allowed to intercept 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 stopped.
Powerful gusts are presently postponing the commencement of intervention operations and the human trafficking gangs will be looking for ways to adjust to avoid interception, as they have done so often in the previous instances.
The Home Office and Downing Street have been contacted for comment.
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