French authorities will start stopping migrant vessels in Channel after UK pressure

French officials have consented to begin intercepting migrant vessels in the Channel, following 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 initiative and saying there currently "lack any effective deterrent" in the Channel.

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

French authorities have infrequently intervened to prevent the heavily loaded boats departing from the shoreline because it is considered excessively high a risk to both officers and civilians.

"It is crucial that we deploy these methods this month... We have zero effective deterrent in the Channel waters."

Currently, a French maritime police representative states officers will begin intervening at sea, with the objective of protecting human life.

Significantly, the official ruled out the use of entanglement devices to stop boats, which had previously been reported as a potential technique to snarl the engines of the vessels.

The decision to take action at all is a major step forward, coming after a short-lived change towards a more aggressive strategy this warmer season, which ceased when the previous government official departed from office.

This was demonstrated in July, in the run-up to a summit between the Prime Minister and President, when French police were witnessed walking into the sea to slash the hulls of a vessel.

Currently French officials will again be allowed to stop boats before they pick up asylum-seeking passengers from the beaches of northern France, however it's not clear how the small boats will be stopped.

Powerful gusts are presently delaying the commencement of intervention operations and the human trafficking networks will be seeking methods to adjust to evade interception, as they have frequently done in the past.

The Home Office and Downing Street have been contacted for comment.

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