ANKARA — Former Nato general secretary George Robertson told MPs on the defence select committee on Tuesday that the defence investment plan had damaged confidence in the defence industry and among Britain's allies. The testimony came as Britain's allies gathered in Ankara for the Nato summit.

The defence investment plan was published last week after a delay of nearly a year. Former defence secretary John Healey resigned shortly before its publication. Robertson said some defence companies would have gone bust while waiting for the degree of certainty required.

Robertson, who led the government's defence review, discussed the prior assessment of future challenges. "We built this strategic defence review based on an assessment of 10 years," he said. "That was our assessment at the time for when a peer opponent might challenge the United Kingdom."

He stated that the situation has since accelerated. "That clearly has now been accelerated, and quite simply we're running out of years, and the reality is that the challenge is now bigger, more serious, and earlier than we had anticipated, and yet the defence investment plan itself doesn't come up to it," Robertson said. He noted that allies around the Nato table are stepping up to the mark and spending more on defence, adding that Germany and Poland are spending considerably more than the UK.

Regarding the summit, Robertson said: "The prime minister is in Ankara today at the Nato summit and he'll be sitting tomorrow morning beside President Trump in alphabetical order around the North Atlantic Council table, and I think relations may well be quite frosty."

Keir Starmer was expected to arrive in Ankara on Tuesday afternoon and is currently travelling to Turkey. Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte called for allies to present clear, concrete and credible plans to reach the organisation's spending targets on Monday. Rutte stated, "President Trump fully expects that all allies will step up immediately and get on the path to 5% and do it with urgency."

The government stated last year that Robertson's defence review was fully funded. Military chiefs had requested an additional £28bn to fund the defence review, and the Treasury agreed to an additional £15bn. Of this additional Treasury funding, £4.7bn is still unallocated. Government figures and defence bosses have criticised the plan for not setting a deadline for the UK to spend 3.5% of its gross domestic product on defence.