🔗 Share this article

France has agreed to start intercepting small boats in the English Channel, after months of pressure from the UK.

The change in policy follows the Prime Minister sent a letter to the President asking him to support the initiative and saying there currently "lack any effective preventive measure" in the maritime passage.

French maritime police will be allowed to intercept the small boats at sea, but exclusively prior to they've picked up their migrants, according to official confirmation.

French police have rarely acted to stop the overcrowded boats departing from the coastline because it is considered excessively high a risk to both personnel and civilians.

"It is crucial that we deploy these methods this period... We have no effective deterrent in the Channel waters."

Now, a French maritime police spokesperson states officers will begin intervening at sea, with the aim of protecting human life.

Significantly, the spokesperson excluded the use of entanglement devices to intercept boats, which had earlier been reported as a potential technique to disable the propellers of the vessels.

This determination to intervene at all is a major advancement, coming after a brief change towards a stricter approach this warmer season, which ceased when the previous Interior Minister left office.

That was highlighted in July, preceding a summit between the UK leader and French president, when authorities were witnessed wading into the sea to slash the hulls of a vessel.

Now French officials will again be allowed to intercept boats before they collect migrant passengers from the coastal areas of northern France, however it's not clear how the vessels will be prevented.

Powerful gusts are presently delaying the start of intervention operations and the people-smuggling gangs will be looking for methods 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.

Connected Developments

• Reasons UK can't just return asylum seekers to French territory
• France withdrawing from pledge to stop asylum boats