West Mercia Police is to receive 70 new Tasers as part of a major extension of the use of the controversial weapon.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced today that 6,000 more Tasers were being made available to forces across England and Wales. The Dyfed-Powys force serving Mid and West Wales will get 80 Tasers under a scheme which will allow specially trained officers to deploy them.

West Mercia, which covers Shropshire, Worcestershire and Hereford, will also be able to draw on a new £2.3 million fund to pay for cartridges for the firearms.

The Home Office said Tasers were safer for the police and for the public in situations where there was a risk of someone being seriously injured or killed.

Use of Tasers is being extended from dedicated firearms officers to specially trained police response officers.

Miss Smith said: “I am proud that we have one of the few police services around the world that do not regularly carry firearms, and I want to keep it that way.

“Everyday the police put themselves in danger to protect us, the public. They deserve our support, so I want to give the police the tools they tell me they need to confront dangerous people. That is why I have given every police force the number of Tasers they have requested,” said the Home Secretary.

Paul McKeever of the Police Federation of England and Wales said Tasers played a vital role in the fight against crime, and he was pleased that forces had taken advantage of the additional funding available.

Derek Talbot, spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers, welcomed the support of the Home Secretary for the plan to roll out Tasers to specially trained units across the country.

He said trials in 12 police force areas showed that in over 80 per cent of incidents where Tasers were used, the situation was resolved without the need to discharge the weapon.