BBC News: Clegg coalition rule 'to be dropped' from cabinet guide

BBC News Online has the latest news from proceedings of the Commons' political and constitutional reform committee:

Nick Clegg's rule for hung parliament talks should not be included in a new Cabinet guide to how the UK government works, Sir Gus O'Donnell told MPs. As leader of the UK's third biggest party, Mr Clegg said he would speak first to the party which won the most votes if no party won a majority.

It is referred to in a draft version of the Cabinet Manual - a bid to compile unwritten conventions of government. Civil service chief Sir Gus said it was not a convention and should be removed.

When last year's general election resulted in a hung Parliament, there was much focus on Mr Clegg, who faced the choice of talking to both Labour and the Conservatives about a possible coalition deal.

Mr Clegg's party ended up talking to both, but initially he chose to enter negotiations with the Conservatives - with whom the Liberal Democrats eventually entered a coalition - saying that the party that "has won the most votes and the most seats, if not an absolute majority, has the first right to seek to govern".

That was at odds with some Labour figures who said that, as sitting prime minister, Gordon Brown should make the first attempt at forming a coalition.

On Thursday Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus was questioned by the Commons' political and constitutional reform committee, about efforts to compile rules and unwritten conventions in one manual.

The UK does not have a written constitution - instead relying on accumulated statutes, conventions and rulings.

Consultation is under way on a draft version of the manual, drawn up by civil servants. One draft chapter on the processes for forming a government in the event of a Hung Parliament was published in February 2010 - and Sir Gus said it had been useful.

But he said he was intending to remove a reference in the overall draft version to Nick Clegg's decision, as leader of the third largest party when the general election resulted in a hung parliament, to talk first to the party which won the most votes and seats.