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

This policy shift comes after the British leader wrote to the President asking him to support the initiative and stating there presently "have no effective deterrent" in the maritime passage.

French security forces will be allowed to intercept the migrant vessels at sea, but only before they've collected their migrants, according to authoritative statements.

French police have rarely acted to stop the overcrowded boats leaving the coastline because it is viewed as excessively high a risk to both officers and civilians.

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

Currently, a French naval police representative states officers will start intervening at sea, with the objective of protecting lives.

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

This determination to take action at all is a significant advancement, following a short-lived shift towards a stricter strategy this summer, which dropped off when the former government official departed from government.

This was demonstrated in the summer month, in the run-up to a meeting between the UK leader and President, when French police were witnessed wading 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 asylum-seeking passengers from the beaches of France's north coast, however it's not clear how the small boats will be stopped.

Powerful gusts are presently delaying the start of intervention operations and the people-smuggling gangs will be looking for ways to adapt to avoid interception, as they have done so often in the previous instances.

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

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