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French officials have consented to begin stopping migrant vessels in the English Channel, following an extended period of pressure from the UK.

This policy shift follows the Prime Minister wrote to the French leader asking him to support the plan and saying there presently "have no effective preventive measure" in the maritime passage.

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

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

"It is crucial that we implement these methods this period... We have no effective deterrent in the Channel."

Currently, a French maritime police representative states officers will start taking action at sea, with the aim of safeguarding human life.

Significantly, the spokesperson excluded the use of entanglement devices to stop boats, which had earlier been reported as a potential method to disable the engines of the boats.

The decision to take action at all is a major advancement, following a short-lived shift towards a stricter strategy this summer, which ceased when the previous Interior Minister left government.

This was demonstrated in the summer month, in the run-up to a summit between the UK leader and French president, when authorities were witnessed wading into the sea to slash the sides of a boat.

Now French authorities will again be permitted to stop boats before they collect asylum-seeking passengers from the beaches of northern France, however it's not clear how the vessels will be stopped.

Strong winds are presently postponing the commencement of intervention operations and the human trafficking gangs will be looking for methods to adjust to evade interception, as they have done so often in the previous instances.

The Home Office and the Prime Minister's office have been contacted for comment.

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