Brown confident of economic growth

London: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his finance minister, Alistair Darling, are confident Britain resumed growth at the end of last year, a spokesman for Brown said.

“The prime minister and the chancellor are of the same view,” he said. “They always expected that towards the end of last year and the beginning of this year we would see growth return.”

The worst recession since WWII ended in the fourth quarter, when the economy probably grew 0.3%, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, whose clients include the Bank of England and the Treasury, said this week.

Darling said the economy is probably growing again after a record six straight quarters of contraction.

He also repeated his assertion that cutting the budget deficit will mean some of the toughest spending decisions in two decades.

The chancellor said that Britain’s recovery won’t be easy. “Everybody should be very cautious,” he said.