ARMED officers will stay in Somerset's busiest tourist areas over the bank holiday weekend despite Britain's terror level being lowered from 'critical' to severe.

Police have said the downgrade means the threat is no longer expected imminently but is still highly likely in the UK. 

Avon and Somerset Police responded to the news the terror threat had been lowered after Prime Minister Theresa made a statement this morning (May 27).

In a statement they said: "We constantly review our security measures and activities to reflect where the threats exist and there is still no specific threat to the south west.

"However, as a precautionary measure and as plans are already in place, members of the public will continue to see the high level of policing, including armed officers, on our communities’ streets throughout the bank holiday weekend.

"From Tuesday military personal are no longer being called upon to assist police forces in protecting key locations.

"In Avon and Somerset armed officers will still be available to respond to an incident at any given moment but after the Bank Holiday weekend will no longer be seen out and about as they have been in recent days.

"Our priority is to protect the public and provide them with as much reassurance as they need.

RELATED LINK: Armed officers on the streets of Taunton keeping us safe

"We felt the decision to deploy firearms officers on our streets was proportionate in the circumstances and was what people would expect.

"The public can still expect to see our neighbourhood officers patrolling the streets and as always, we encourage people to approach them and ask them any questions they might have."

"Officers from event planning teams continue to work with event organisers to ensure venues have appropriate security measures in place and anyone planning an event, or who would like to speak about one already planned, can contact us on the non-emergency number 101."