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France has agreed to start stopping small boats in the Channel, following an extended period of insistence from the UK.

The change in policy comes after the Prime Minister wrote to the French leader urging him to back the initiative and saying there presently "lack any effective deterrent" in the Channel.

French maritime police will be allowed to intercept the small boats at sea, but only before they've collected their migrants, according to authoritative statements.

French police have rarely intervened to prevent the heavily loaded boats departing from the shoreline because it is viewed as excessively high a danger to both personnel and individuals.

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

Now, a French maritime police representative states personnel will start taking action at sea, with the aim of protecting human life.

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

This determination to take action at all is a significant advancement, following a short-lived shift towards a stricter approach this summer, which dropped off 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 President, when authorities were witnessed walking into the sea to slash the hulls of a boat.

Currently French officials will once more be permitted to stop boats prior to they collect migrant individuals from the coastal areas of northern France, although it's uncertain how the vessels will be stopped.

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

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

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