No 10 to explore other routes towards election after Lib Dem proposal

James Cleverly told Andrew Marr the Lib Dem proposal to amend the Fixed-term Parliaments Act was a ‘gimmick’. Photograph: Jeff Overs/PAThe government could try to force a pre-Christmas election via a simple majority for a parliamentary bill, Downing Street has said, following a Liberal Democrat-devised plan to try to end the House of Commons impasse.While ministers have dismissed a Lib Dem-Scottish National party idea to bring about an election on 9 December by amending the Fixed-ter