The Kent crime commissioner has said he opposes the idea of routinely arming police officers despite the rise in terror attacks in the UK and Kent’s proximity to mainland Europe.

The Met Police Federation is surveying its members on the idea of arming more officers in the face of the capital being a target for terror attacks.

In September, the Kent force advised the public that they were likely to see a more visible police presence, including firearms and taser patrols, across the county because of the heightened terror threat.

Commissioner Matthew Scott, who says the terror threat is a key reason for increasing the police element of the council tax, said: “I don’t believe police officers should be routinely armed.

"We have a system in this country whereby we ask people to volunteer to be armed officers and we do our best to support those.

"I don’t think that routinely arming is the way forward - if you look at other countries and what happens over there, you can see what the consequences might be.

"It is always important to ask police officers what they think is appropriate for them and how they want to do their job.”

He adopted the same position with tasers, saying it should be a matter for individual officers.

“With tasers it has to be up to the individual officers and whether they feel comfortable with that and the training they have got. At the end of the day, it is officers who pull the trigger.”

Ian Pointon, chairman of the Kent Police Federation, said there was no groundswell of support among officers to be routinely armed but there was greater support for tasers.

He said there was little enthusiasm among members despite the recent terrorist atrocities in mainland Europe.

“I haven’t been contacted by a lot of officers saying they feel they should be routinely armed. The fight against terrorism is best done through intelligence that stops attacks before they happen. We have seen that in France where having armed officers has not stopped attacks.”

“It is a different culture here and we have policing by consent. If we were going to go down that route, we would need a major public debate.”

However, he said officers were more supportive over carrying tasers. “There is a definite appetite for that. That is not necessarily due to recent terror attacks but officers feel they are more effective and very often suspects will raise their hands when they see them.”

The force stepped up armed police patrols in several locations last year, including Canterbury city centre including the Cathedral, the Port of Dover and Bluewater.

It said the decision was not related to any particular threat but a response to the general heightened security following attacks in mainland Europe.