Eight months after Sir Keir Starmer announced a major change of tactic by the French in the English Channel, we may finally be on the cusp of seeing that 'push-back' policy in operation.
It's hard to overstate just how welcome this development will be for the Labour government, which has been battered by one bad news story after another when it comes to the Channel migration crisis.
Month after month, ministers were asked when French maritime police were going to begin pushing migrant dinghies back to shore.
Clearly frustrated by the lack of action, the Prime Minister again wrote to the French President recently, urging him to ensure the tactic was operationalised as soon as possible.
Now Le Monde, a reputable French publication, has managed to see official documents, which don't just reveal the latest correspondence between the UK and France, but also include documents signed by four French prefectures along the Channel coastline, giving the go-ahead for officers to begin implementing the tactic.
We won't see any sign of the French pushing small boats back to the shore for some days yet, simply because the weather is too awful in the Channel to make any crossings possible.
Having a quiet word with our Channel migrant producer in Kent, who's on top of all the latest movements, he tells me that there's a weather window next Wednesday.
These things can change rapidly at this time of the year, but providing conditions remain favourable on that day, I'll be popping across the Channel to see for myself whether the French are finally prepared to make good on their push-back promise.
It's certainly not a welcome development as far as the French police unions are concerned.
They believe the tactic is fraught with danger, that if something does go tragically wrong during any attempt to push back a migrant boat, then French political leaders won't have their backs.
Mark White's Migration Monitor: I've had a tip-off that could derail France's plan to intercept migrant boats
|GB NEWS/GETTY IMAGES
They may well be right, and the longevity of this policy will undoubtedly depend on no mishaps along the way.
There's little doubt the British government need this tactic to succeed.
Just this week, there was more embarrassment over its small boat policy with the news that just 4.5 per cent of Channel migrants have been removed from the UK since Labour came to power.
That equates to around 2,800, mainly Albanian migrants returned home, while more than 62,000 arrived on our shores.
In fact, since the small boats crisis began back in 2018, just 3.5 per cent of migrants have been deported from the UK out of 190,0000 arrivals.
There was one piece of good Channel migrant news for the Government this week.
Remember the second so-called ‘hokey cokey’ migrant who arrived back across the Channel after we deported him to France?
Well, he’s gone, removed on a flight to Paris during the week.
The updated total for the number removed to France under the one-in-one-out deal is now 153.
More than 13,000 have arrived here since the returns deal was operationalised three months ago.
Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter