PRISON officers have urged the government to allow the use of electric stun guns in Britain’s most dangerous jails.

Prison Officers’ Association national chairman Mark Fairhurst urged the Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood to “listen to staff on the front line” after guards were attacked with hot oil and homemade weapons by Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi.

He told the BBC that officers needed more options if extendable batons and synthetic pepper spray fail to deal with a situation.

“All we’re asking for is for the government to be reasonable with us,” he said.

“This is what I’ll be asking the Secretary of State for Justice on Wednesday — if you’re against Tasers, why are you against Tasers?”

“We’re in an enclosed environment, and we’re facing people armed with homemade knives.

“We haven’t even got stabproof vests, so we need Taser as an option, a tactical option, to deploy to save our lives really.”

He added that it is “very easy for an academic” to raise concerns that the proposals would undermine rehabilitative approaches to the prison system “when they’re not on the front line, wearing a white shirt for protection and facing extreme levels of violence from terrorists.”

The Prison Service pledged to investigate whether front-line staff should be given protective body armour after Abedi’s attack injured four officers at HMP Frankland in County Durham earlier this month.

The Ministry of Justice has pledged to carry out a review following the incident also suspended access to kitchens in separation units in prisons, where the attack is believed to have taken place in Frankland.

Ms Mahmood said: “It is clear there are further questions to answer, and more that must be done.”