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French officials have consented to begin intercepting small boats in the English Channel, after months of insistence from the UK.

The change in policy follows the Prime Minister sent a letter to the President urging him to support the plan and stating there presently "lack any effective deterrent" in the maritime passage.

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

French police have rarely intervened to stop the overcrowded boats departing from the shoreline because it is viewed as excessively high a risk to both officers and civilians.

"It is essential that we deploy these tactics this period... We have no effective deterrent in the Channel waters."

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

Notably, the official excluded the use of nets to intercept boats, which had previously been reported as a potential method to snarl the engines of the boats.

The decision to intervene at all is a significant advancement, coming after a brief change towards a stricter strategy this summer, which ceased when the previous government official departed from office.

This was demonstrated in the summer month, in the run-up to a meeting between the Prime Minister and French president, when French police were observed walking into the sea to slash the hulls of a boat.

Currently French officials will once more be permitted to intercept boats before they pick up asylum-seeking passengers from the coastal areas of northern France, however it's not clear how the small boats will be prevented.

Powerful gusts are currently delaying the start of intervention operations and the people-smuggling networks will be seeking methods to adapt to evade detection, as they have frequently done in the previous instances.

The Home Office and the Prime Minister's office have been approached for response.

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