Illegal drone incursions over nuclear power stations and UK military bases have risen to almost three a week as tensions with Russia continue to intensify.

The number of unmanned aircraft spotted over critical infrastructure and sensitive security sites since January has already exceeded the combined total recorded during the previous two years.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) told The Mail on Sunday that 100 incidents involving nuclear facilities or nuclear-related assets, including submarines, were reported between January and August this year.

That compares with 69 such incidents throughout 2025 and 47 in 2024. In 2020, the figure was just 18.

Professor Anthony Glees, a security expert at the University of Buckingham, said it was “common sense” to suspect Russia was behind the increase.

“The obvious explanation for the increase in drone spying of our nuclear facilities is to gain intelligence useful to an enemy planning an attack on the UK, which would be the harbinger of a general war in Europe against Nato,” he said.

Although Professor Glees identified Russia as the most likely force behind the activity, he said China and Iran could also be involved as they assess Britain’s ability to protect itself.

The latest figures follow a report earlier this year alleging that Russia had been conducting surveillance of Britain’s nuclear weapons.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said drones had targeted RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and RAF Feltwell in Norfolk over four days in 2024.

The drones were reportedly launched from the Kremlin-linked spy ship HAV Dolphin, which was seen off the Humberside coast at the time.

The security operation prompted the deployment of specialist British troops to the bases to intercept the Russian surveillance drones.

Professor Glees said some drones were launched from ships, but there were also suspicions that Russia and Iran were using “human agents” to deploy them.

He said those agents could include British citizens paid to betray their own country. “We don’t think they have any ideological attachment to Putin’s regime,” he added.

The 100 nuclear-related incursions form part of 340 drone security incidents recorded at or near Ministry of Defence sites across the UK in the year to August 2026.

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Military chiefs have declined to disclose how many incidents took place at each type of site or involving each type of asset. They have also withheld figures relating specifically to Scotland, where the Faslane naval base houses Britain’s nuclear deterrent, warning that releasing the information could threaten national security.

Launching the IISS report earlier this year, the think tank’s security expert Charlie Edwards said: “Russia has demonstrated, repeatedly, that it can penetrate the airspace of NATO members – including over nuclear sites – without triggering a collective allied response.

“That gap between capability and political will is now a strategic vulnerability.”

The criticism comes as Prime Minister Andy Burnham faces pressure over plans to invite Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit in Manchester. Ministers do not expect Putin to attend in person, fearing British courts could uphold an International Criminal Court warrant seeking his arrest over alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

Opponents have warned that allowing a senior Russian delegation to visit the UK would suggest relations were being normalised and give the Kremlin a significant propaganda victory.

A UK Government spokesman said Russian participation in G20 meetings is ‘regrettable’ but added that it is a matter for member states who represents them at summits.

Last month, it emerged Mr Burnham was warned that Britain faces Russian retaliation over its support for Ukraine.

Security experts have told the PM to be prepared for a ‘direct response’ from Putin.

Discussing what steps the UK should take to counter the threat, Professor Glees said: ‘Andy Burnham should say, loud and clear, that from now on, any Russian ship launching drones to overfly sensitive UK military and defence industry sites will be destroyed.’

He suggested tactics such as anti-drone nets, which Russia is using over its refineries, could also be used as well as jamming them electronically.

He added: ‘We are facing a real and present national security threat and it is time Defence Secretary Wes Streeting stopped talking nice. He needs to call these incursions out for what they are, hostile spy operations, and act hard and fast to stop them.’

An MOD spokesperson said: ‘We take the rising threat posed by hostile drones extremely seriously.

‘We are committing £790 million to strengthen protection from drone and missile threats and have established new restricted airspace areas over 44 critical defence sites, extending to over 160 further sites in the autumn.’

Jay Slater’s mother has returned to Tenerife for a documentary investigating the circumstances surrounding her son’s death.

The 19-year-old disappeared in the north of the island in 2024 after attending a music festival. His body was not discovered until 29 days later.

An inquest concluded that Mr Slater had fallen from a height and sustained fatal traumatic head injuries. No evidence of third-party involvement was found, and his death was ruled accidental.

During the search, his family faced a barrage of online speculation from amateur detectives, with social media users—including many on TikTok—promoting fantastical theories about what had happened to him.

In a new Channel 5 documentary, Debbie Duncan reveals that one question continued to trouble her after her son vanished. Hours before his disappearance, he had called friends to say he was lost and had no water—but did he suffer?

Ms Duncan, 57, travelled with her brother Glen to Tenerife’s Rural de Teno national park for the programme, Cause of Death, retracing the route Mr Slater is believed to have taken.

The filming took place several weeks after Ms Duncan received the delayed Spanish post-mortem report. It stated that her son died after falling into a ravine measuring 82ft in depth.

She also discussed the Spanish and British post-mortem examinations with pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd, who carried out the Home Office examination of Mr Slater’s body.

Dr Shepherd told The Sun that Ms Duncan’s main concern was whether her son had been conscious of what was happening before he died.

“She wanted to know how his injuries would have affected him,” he said. “I was able to tell her that yes, it was an awful injury, and yes, it killed him.”

“But the head injury was so severe that it probably would have killed him immediately. It was the end—there was no pain and suffering.”

“He wasn’t injured on the hillside dying slowly, and that was important for her to understand.”

Dr Shepherd said Ms Duncan’s determination to establish the truth had been intensified by the “hurtful speculation” surrounding the apprentice bricklayer’s death.

Online rumours claimed that Mr Slater had been murdered, while manipulated footage purporting to show him being tortured was also circulated.

However, investigators found no evidence that he had been deliberately harmed.

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Dr Shepherd said the Spanish and British authorities’ investigation moved slowly between the two countries, creating an information vacuum that online sleuths attempted to fill.

Despite the speculation, he said there was nothing to support any account other than the tragic fall recorded by the inquest.

He joined Ms Duncan and her brother on a visit to Masca, the village where Mr Slater left his Airbnb after partying with friends he had met at the NRG music festival.

Half an hour after leaving the house his friend Lucy Law called him and was told he was thirsty and ‘frightened’.

At 8.50am, 20 minutes after the first call, he rang Ms Law to tell her he was in the ‘middle of nowhere’ and ‘all I can see are mountains’ before his phone battery ran out two minutes later.

Ms Duncan said in the programme that she had thought of her son: ‘Why did you not ring me?’

She continued: ‘But then I also think: “Why did I not ring him when I saw his Snapchat that morning?”‘

‘Nobody knew what was going to happen. I need to stop feeling guilty about that. It’s really hard.’

She wanted to know why her son did not turn back after telling Ms Law he felt scared on the road but in her visit to Masca, she understood his helplessness as he stood among the rocks.

She said: ‘We thought, how was it possible to get to a place where he said to Lucy: “I’m lost, all I can see is mountains”? He must have been so scared, thinking, I can’t turn back.

‘And when you look at it, you just know why. The closure I’ve got is from the walk, knowing where he set off from, how he has seen the ocean and gone down, and where he got to before he died.

‘Seeing all that now, I understand it better. That’s what closure has given me.’

Ms Duncan said she knew her son would be ‘sorry’ for the ‘mistakes he made’ and the consequences which came thereafter.

Cause of Death is on Channel 5 on Wednesday at 9pm.

Andy Burnham promised to put “hope in every heart” as he arrived in Liverpool for his first Labour conference as Prime Minister, with tensions rising among some of the party’s most prominent figures.

Standing outside the conference venue beneath Labour’s “Hope Again” slogan, a determined Mr Burnham addressed reporters in his familiar all-black “working man” attire, posing with his hands resting on his hips.

The Prime Minister said he intended to steer Britain in a fresh direction, arguing that the decade since the Brexit vote had been marked by “too much drift and too much division”. The country, he said, now needed to “draw a line under that”.

Reiterating his promise of “good growth in every postcode”, Mr Burnham said: “We’re going to make this a really important week where we set out a new direction for the country.”

He said his plans were designed to give people “hope again” that their circumstances could improve, adding that life “will get better”.

Mr Burnham described arriving at his first Labour conference as party leader and Prime Minister as a “proud” moment. Reflecting on his family history, he said: “My grandad drove a lorry for Tate & Lyle up and down these docks. I wonder what he would make of this right now.”

The Everton supporter also joked about the city’s football rivalry, saying: “I love coming to Liverpool on a Saturday, normally to support the Blues, but we’re all supporting the Reds today, aren’t we?”

As Labour supporters gathered to welcome him, his wife Marie-France van Heel stood nearby. She recently left her job to support her husband in his new position as “First Lady”.

Moving away from the designer style that attracted criticism when Mr Burnham entered Downing Street, including an £850 Victoria Beckham dress, she opted for a smart burgundy faux leather midi skirt from Next priced at £46. The outfit was completed with matching kitten heels, a handbag and a white shirt.

Mr Burnham’s outfit consisted of £295 jeans, an £80 T-shirt, a £695 suede Harrington jacket and £110 low-top Adidas Topanga trainers.

Ms van Heel, known as Frankie, met the Prime Minister while they were both at Cambridge. She recently stepped down from her role as a marketing executive to support her husband and accompany him on official engagements and overseas tours.

Earlier in the week, she joined a lunch hosted by US First Lady Melania Trump while Mr Burnham was making his first official visit to Donald Trump.

She also met Olena Zelenska, the wife of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, and Diana Carney, wife of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, during a gathering at the UN General Assembly in New York.

The couple travelled to Liverpool from their home in Warrington, where Mr Burnham had earlier been photographed out for a run.

He is likely to need all his resilience and energy to fight off growing unrest this week from senior party figures who have challenged him and have sniped publicly at each other.

Former Business Secretary and Streeting supporter Peter Kyle said the PM was not doing enough to boost economic growth, while former Deputy PM Angela Rayner lashed out at the Home Secretary’s plans to lengthen the time before foreign care workers could claim settlement rights.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Kyle suggested the Government needed to make more short-term decisions to boost growth, like slowing the rollout of new workers’ rights.

‘We might need to look and have honest conversations with unions about how we sequence some of the rights going forward to make sure that we get growth into the economy in the shorter term,’ he said.

Meanwhile, communities secretary Ms Rayner said increasing the timeline for permanent residence from five years to 15 years for foreign social care workers and applying it retrospectively to all those who have come to the UK since 2021 would ‘change the goalposts’.

She has previously called Shabana Mahmood’s migration proposals, which have been welcomed by others on the right of the party, ‘un-British’.

Ms Rayner’s increasingly vocal opposition, which is supported by others within the party and the growing unrest at the Government’s economic plans – or lack of them – ahead of next month’s Budget could cause a headache for the PM, curtailing his honeymoon period.

The backbiting continued when Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy hit back at Mr Kyle, suggesting Mr Burnham was moving faster than Sir Keir Starmer did as Prime Minister.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Mr Burnham was ‘impatient for change, and he thinks big about the sort of change that the country needs’.

With the PM also ruling out an early snap election in pre-conference interviews, saying he wanted to ‘knock dead’ rumours of one, party chair Bridget Phillipson also sounded a note of caution about winning the next election despite Labour’s initial poll boost since Sir Keir Starmer was toppled.

Speaking to the Press Association today, she acknowledged the PM’s role in boosting polls as thanks to his ‘real sense of connection’ but said the party recognised it had a ‘massive fight on our hands with Reform, with the Tories’.

As polling showed a snap election would not give any party a majority but Labour the largest share with Reform and the Tories neck and neck, she said:

‘We’ve got a big fight on our hands come the next election and I don’t underestimate that challenge for one second, but there’s a real sense of purpose and energy as conference gets underway.’

Commenting that ‘the only poll that will matter is the one that happens on election day in 2029,’ she added: ‘What we have seen with Andy Burnham is a real sense of connection with the public, taking things to the next level. That hope, that optimism, that sense that Britain’s best days lie ahead of us.’