The head of MI6 will on Monday highlight the urgent need for a new era of spying in which artificial intelligence and robotics are deployed to combat rogue states hellbent on “perpetual confrontation” with the UK.

In a rare public speech - only his second in four years in the job - Alex Younger, the Chief of MI6, will say that Britain must enter an age of “fourth generation espionage” to keep the country safe.

The MI6 boss - known as "C" - will also emphasise the importance of "strengthening" Britain’s security ties with European allies ahead of Brexit, pointing out that "multiple" Islamic State-inspired attacks on the Continent have been disrupted thanks to the co-operation of intelligence agencies.

The speech to students at St Andrew’s University, where Mr Younger studied, will also warn of the danger of “adversaries” who are “willing to take advantage” of huge leaps in cyber technology to launch attacks on Britain “in ways that fall short of traditional warfare”.

Mr Younger will single out Russia for its “malign behaviour”. The Kremlin had ordered the assassination of Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence who spied for MI6, using nerve agent smeared on his front door handle in Salisbury.