AFP, LONDON: A UK lobby group representing the country’s key car sector is demanding a Brexit transitional deal with no time limits, its president said in a speech on Tuesday.

Tony Walker, president of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), said uncertainty over Britain’s exit from the European Union was already taking its “toll”, as he addressed more than 1,100 industry leaders.

He said a transitional period “should be on the current terms and, crucially, not time-limited”, so that the UK automative sector can stay competitive.

The Conservative government of Prime Minister Theresa May wants a Brexit implementation period of about two years after Britain’s planned departure in March 2019.

Walker added on Tuesday: “We will never stop striving to be competitive. But we ask government to help provide the conditions in which we can compete.

Like every other industry, we need certainty now.”