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French officials have consented to start stopping migrant vessels in the English Channel, following an extended period of insistence from the United Kingdom.

The change in policy comes after the Prime Minister sent a letter to the French leader urging him to support the initiative and stating there currently "have no effective preventive measure" in the maritime passage.

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

French police have infrequently intervened to prevent the heavily loaded boats departing from the coastline because it is viewed as excessively high a risk to both officers and individuals.

"It is crucial that we implement these methods this month... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel."

Now, a French naval police representative says officers will start intervening at sea, with the objective of protecting human life.

Significantly, the official ruled out the use of entanglement devices to intercept boats, which had previously been suggested as a potential method to disable the propellers of the boats.

The decision to take action at all is a significant step forward, coming after a short-lived change towards a more aggressive approach this summer, which dropped off when the previous government official left office.

This was demonstrated in July, in the run-up to a summit between the Prime Minister and French president, when French police were witnessed walking into the sea to damage the hulls of a boat.

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

Strong winds are presently delaying the start of interceptions and the human trafficking networks will be seeking ways to adjust to avoid interception, as they have frequently done in the previous instances.

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

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