PUTTING troops on the streets would undermine British democracy, peace campaigners have warned, and the Metropolitan Police commissioner has been condemned for trying to water down accountability rules in the continuing row sparked by the killing of unarmed black man Chris Kaba by armed police.

The Peace Pledge Union (PPU) described the proposal to deploy troops to support the London force after one of its firearms officer was charged last week with the murder of Mr Kaba as an “alarming example of everyday militarism.”

Cover was drafted in from neighbouring forces after dozens of the Met’s 2,595 marksmen refused to perform their armed roles, but today the force said it no longer needed army assistance after enough officers had agreed to work.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the force had taken a conciliatory tone since the officers downed tools and bosses were working to understand their “genuinely held concerns.”

The PPU’s Symon Hill said: “Deploying troops to carry out police functions is a threat to Britain’s traditions of democracy and civil liberty.

“The armed forces and their leaders are rarely held to account: even less so than the police.”

The row over police accountability continued today after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said armed police need clarity about the legal powers they have.

Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley had called for greater legal protection for officers, backing a review of armed policing ordered by Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

In an open letter to the Home Secretary published on Sunday, Sir Mark suggested legal changes over the way self-defence is interpreted in police misconduct cases.

He put forward the introduction of a criminal standard of proof for unlawful killing in inquests and inquiries, changes to the threshold at which the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) can launch an investigation, and time limits for IOPC and Crown Prosecution Service processes on officers facing lengthy investigations.

But Deborah Coles, director of the state-related deaths specialist charity Inquest, said: “Police cannot be judge, jury and executioner — and must not be above the law.

“Mark Rowley’s requests to the Home Secretary, including overturning two recent Supreme Court judgements, would make accountability for police use of force virtually impossible, effectively giving firearms officers a licence to kill. That cannot be in the public interest.”