Gardiner explained: “Of course we want an election and that’s what I’m saying to you – we are desperate for an election because the people of this country need it.
“Just look at what’s going on in our schools, lets look at what’s going on in our schools. Look at what’s happening to social care and the fabric of society with knife crime.
“This is a government who have failed in doing anything positive in the last four years since this Brexit negotiation started.
“It’s been a disaster in that all normal government has simply ceased. That’s why when they say, ‘Let’s get Brexit done’, we’re saying, ‘Yes – do it’. You’ve got the agreement in principle, we want there to be a credible, negotiated deal that we can then put back to the people so they can see what it is that Brexit would look like, have a credible option to leave and a credible option to remain.”
BBC Breakfast airs weekdays on BBC One at 6am.