The Conservatives managed to bag most of the seats in the UK general election but fell short of a majority, leading to the first hung parliament since 1974. Senior Labour figures have said that under the rules of Britain's constitution, the sitting prime minister in a hung parliament makes the first attempt at forming a ruling coalition. As counting continues the Tories have gained 92 seats, Labour have lost 86 and the Lib Dems six, despite hopes of a breakthrough for the third party. The battle is now under way to see which leader can form a government. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said Tories had the first right to seek to govern. Arriving back at Lib Dem headquarters in London, he said: 'It is vital that all parties, all political leaders, act in the national interest and not out of narrow party political advantage. He said he 'stuck by his view that the party with the biggest mandate - in terms of votes and seats - should have the right to seek to govern first. The Tories have won 291 seats so far but it is now not possible for them to reach the 326 seats needed to win an overall majority. Mr Brown, whose party has 251 seats so far, has returned to Downing Street with aides and is expected to make an offer to Mr Clegg's Lib Dems, who have so far won 51 seats, to try to form a coalition government.