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French officials have consented to start stopping migrant vessels in the Channel, after an extended period of insistence from the UK.

This policy shift comes after the Prime Minister wrote to the President asking him to support the initiative and stating there presently "have no effective preventive measure" in the Channel.

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

French authorities have rarely intervened to stop the overcrowded boats leaving the shoreline because it is considered excessively high a risk to both personnel and civilians.

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

Now, a French naval police spokesperson says personnel will begin intervening at sea, with the objective of safeguarding human life.

Notably, the spokesperson excluded the use of entanglement devices to intercept boats, which had previously been reported as a possible method to snarl the propellers of the vessels.

This determination to intervene at all is a major advancement, coming after a brief shift towards a more aggressive strategy this warmer season, which ceased when the former Interior Minister departed from office.

This was demonstrated in July, in the run-up to a summit between the UK leader and French president, when authorities were witnessed walking into the sea to slash the hulls of a vessel.

Now French authorities will once more be permitted to stop boats before they collect asylum-seeking passengers from the coastal areas of France's north coast, however it's not clear how the vessels will be stopped.

Powerful gusts are currently delaying the commencement of intervention operations and the people-smuggling gangs will be looking for ways to adapt to avoid detection, as they have frequently done in the previous instances.

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

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