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French officials have consented to begin stopping small boats in the Channel, following months of pressure from the United Kingdom.

This policy shift follows the Prime Minister wrote to the French leader asking him to support the initiative and saying there presently "have no effective deterrent" in the Channel.

French security forces have been authorized to intercept the migrant vessels at sea, but only before they've picked up their passengers, according to official confirmation.

French authorities have infrequently intervened to stop the heavily loaded boats departing from the shoreline because it is viewed as excessively high a risk to both personnel and civilians.

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

Currently, a French maritime police representative says personnel will begin taking action at sea, with the objective of protecting human life.

Significantly, the spokesperson ruled out the use of entanglement devices to intercept boats, which had earlier been reported as a possible technique to disable the propellers of the boats.

This determination to intervene at all is a major step forward, coming after a short-lived change towards a stricter strategy this summer, which ceased when the former government official departed from government.

This was demonstrated in the summer month, in the run-up to a summit between the UK leader and President, when authorities were witnessed wading into the sea to damage the hulls of a vessel.

Currently French officials will once more be allowed to stop boats before they pick up migrant individuals from the beaches of France's north coast, however it's not clear how the small boats will be stopped.

Strong winds are presently postponing the start of interceptions and the people-smuggling 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 response.

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