POLICE have scrapped plans to cut 25 armed officers in response to the terrorist attacks in Paris.

Stephane Charbonnier, the editor of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, was killed along with his police guard and nine of his fellow members of staff, after two masked gunmen armed with assault rifles forced their way into the building and opened fire.

Within hours of the killings, senior officers met and discussed the cuts.

Despite senior Greater Manchester Police figures insisting no decisions have been made yet, police are now reportedly reconsidering plans to cut 25 posts from the force’s firearms unit and 50 officers from its traffic division.

Deputy Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: “Greater Manchester Police have been reviewing all areas of business to cope with the level of cuts imposed upon us.

"As such, no areas of the organisation have been untouched in terms of considering where to make savings.

“No formal papers have yet been considered regarding firearms and traffic roles.

"However, what is clear is that in future we will have to make very difficult decisions around how we use the budget we are allocated taking into account the threats and risks of policing an area as diverse as Greater Manchester.”

Currently, the UK terror threat is "severe", which means British security forces believe an attack is likely.