BARROW would be a potential target for a nuclear missile strike were Russia to go to war with NATO, according to leaked secret files.

The Financial Times said it had seen a presentation given to the Russian navy officers that included a list of targets.

Among them was Barrow's shipyard where the UK's Trident nuclear submarines are built.

It came as a former chair of the House of Commons defence committee warned an attack against Barrow was 'increasing in probability'.

The documents, which predate Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, suggest Moscow has rehearsed the use of tactical nuclear weapons in the initial stages of a war with a major world power.

Drawn up between 2008 and 2014, the files include a target list for missiles that can carry either conventional warheads or tactical nuclear weapons, said The Financial Times.

"Russia’s Northern Fleet would be expected to hit defence industrial targets, such as the submarine shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness in north-west England," the FT report said, suggesting the shipyard would be the main target for Russia in the UK.

Tobias Ellwood, the former chair of the Commons Defence Committee, said the threat of a Russian attack was increasing.

He told the i:"'We must wake up – storm clouds are gathering. An attack against Barrow, crippling our nuclear deterrent, is increasing in probability."

Other targets mentioned in the files include a factory near Hull and a site near Edinburgh thought to be the shipyard at Rosyth, where the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales were built.

In total 32 sites across the world are mentioned as possible targets for strikes.

The papers suggest Putin would launch a ‘demonstration strike’ in a remote, unpopulated area to scare western countries.

The FT said the papers showed Russia was able to launch nukes from ships which has 'significant extra risks of escalation or accidents'.

However, experts have warned that carrying such weapons on surface vessels would be more dangerous and leave them exposed to enemy hits and storm damage.

There has been no suggestion of Russian is to imminently go to war with a NATO power.