Prostate cancer has overtaken breast cancer to become the third deadliest type of the disease in Britain, new research has found.

For the first time, figures show that more men are dying from prostate cancer than women from breast cancer, amid warnings from charities and health campaigners that more investment is needed.

The research, published today by Prostate Cancer UK, reveals that 11,819 men died of prostate cancer in 2015, the equivalent of one every 45 minutes, compared with 11,442 women who died of breast cancer.

To halt the rise, the charity estimates that more than £120m in research funding is needed to make sufficient advances in research, screening and treatment.

Although the mortality rate for breast cancer has continued to fall steadily since the Nineties, the number of men dying from prostate cancer has risen by more than 20 per cent during the same period.

Lung cancer and bowel cancer remain the deadliest cancers in the UK, with more than 50,000 people dying of the diseases annually.