BRITS should run towards terror attacks and not hide from them, the hero MP from the Westminster attack has said.

Tobias Ellwood says he felt like he "failed" PC Keith Palmer, who he couldn't save after being stabbed outside the Houses of Parliament last year.

The defence minister, 52, says the British public had become too scared of confronting criminals, and the nation was too "risk averse" these days.

And he urged Brits to step forward and stand up to threats to our country.

The official advice during terror attacks is to "run, hide and tell".

Mr Ellwood, whose brother Jon died in a terror attack in Bali, told Good Morning Britain today: "I worry that we have become too risk averse. The world is getting more dangerous."

He went on: "Who is willing to stand up as these threats emerge? It's in our DNA - good nations must step forward."

And comparing today to the brave soldiers who fought in World War One, he added: "If we don't, who will?"

He said that standing by would "allow space for anti-social behaviour to take place... for violence, or even terror attacks to take place."

If more Brits stood up towards bad behaviour then they can stop such attacks happening again, he argued.

"Culturally, we can stand up to this, deny them the chance," he added.

Recalling the traumatic minutes he tried in vain to save PC Palmer during last year's Westminster terror attack, the MP said he felt like he'd let the man down after he was stabbed by sick terrorist Khalid Masood.

"We felt that we had failed," he said.

He paid tribute to the other brave emergency services who tried to help save the cop's life.

During the inquest into the attack, he tearfully described how he closed the dead officer's eyes and told him: "I'm sorry".

And he even had to be told to stop trying to resuscitate him.

Yesterday PC Palmer's widow said he was "left with no protection to die" after the attack.

Michelle Palmer hit out at the Met police saying they "let Keith down" after a coroner found that there were shortcomings in the security system at the Palace of Westminster.

"The fact there were no firearms officers there for nearly an hour is hard to believe. I truly believe that if they had been there he would still be here today and Amy wouldn't have lost her daddy," she said.