As many as 300 volunteer “parish constables” would be recruited to Kent Police under a plan unveiled by UKIP’s crime commissioner candidate Henry Bolton.

The scheme was identified as a cornerstone of UKIP’s election manifesto which was launched at the weekend by Mr Bolton.

He also pledged that he would make stopping protest marches from disrupting the lives and businesses of people in Dover a “top priority.”

He said the volunteer constables would be recruited as members of Kent’s Special Constabulary - which number about 400 - and have full powers of arrest.

At the same time, there would be a freeze on recruitment of PCSOs - which critics say amount to “plastic policemen.”

In other pledges, Mr Bolton - a former police and army officer - said he would set up a task force to strengthen and develop a comprehensive border strategy to combat drug and people smuggling through Kent.

He also said he would take the £85,000 salary for the role as he intended to make being commissioner a full-time job.

And he vowed he would find a way to bring an end to the protest marches that blighted Dover for a second time at the weekend.

"We cannot have several hundred riot police deployed on to the streets of a relatively small town in Kent on a regular basis. We cannot have lives disrupted in this way” UKIP Kent crime commissioner candidate Henry Bolton

On parish constables, he rejected that they would amount to policing on the cheap. Speaking at the launch on Sunday, he said:

“They would be a category of special constable and as such would receive full police training and they would also possess full policing powers, such as the power to arrest - which is a power that PCSOs do not have.”

He said the scheme did not mean he was unconvinced by or lacked confidence in PCSOs.

“They are paid but there are not the financial resources available to provide them for every community. Of course, it [parish constables] are a cheaper option but it is the only option in terms of putting uniformed officers out into the community given the austerity we are under.”

Asked how he would deal with protest marches of the kind that were held in Dover at the weekend, he said:

“I don’t know what the solution is but what I do know is that we have to find one. As crime commissioner, it would be one of my top priorities: we cannot have several hundred riot police deployed on to the streets of a relatively small town in Kent on a regular basis. We cannot have lives disrupted in this way.”

He said he would accept the £85,000 salary for the role, saying he would treat it as a full time “24/7” job.

“I do consider it a 24/7 job; I do consider you are on call all the time; you are the political face of public safety and security in Kent and you are the boss - and in some ways the partner - of the chief constable."

He added: "People would not complain if they saw a crime commissioner who is earning a great deal less than the chief constable who is delivering on the manifesto promises I have made.”

Nominations for the crime commissioner election in May close on April 7.