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French officials have consented to start intercepting migrant vessels in the English Channel, following months of insistence from the United Kingdom.

The change in policy follows the British leader sent a letter to the President urging him to back the plan and saying there currently "have no effective preventive measure" in the Channel.

French maritime police have been authorized to intercept the migrant vessels at sea, but only before they've collected their migrants, according to official confirmation.

French police have infrequently acted to stop the heavily loaded boats leaving the shoreline because it is considered excessively high a danger to both personnel and civilians.

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

Now, a French naval police representative says personnel will begin taking action at sea, with the objective of safeguarding lives.

Significantly, the official ruled out the use of entanglement devices to intercept boats, which had earlier been reported as a possible method to snarl the engines of the vessels.

The decision to take action at all is a major step forward, coming after a short-lived change towards a more aggressive approach this summer, which ceased when the previous government official departed from government.

This was demonstrated in July, in the run-up to a summit between the Prime Minister and President, when French police were observed wading into the sea to damage the hulls of a vessel.

Now French authorities will again be permitted to intercept boats before they pick up asylum-seeking individuals from the beaches of France's north coast, although it's not clear how the small boats will be stopped.

Strong winds are currently postponing the start of intervention operations and the human trafficking gangs will be looking for methods to adapt to evade interception, as they have frequently done in the past.

UK immigration authorities and the Prime Minister's office have been approached for comment.

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