UK Treasury chief predicts no recession in Britain this year

By DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. is likely to avoid a recession this year, Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt said Wednesday, adding a bit of surprise to what had been billed as a boring budget meant to restore confidence and stability in the nation’s finances.  The announcement came as Hunt delivered his spending plan to a packed House of Commons, drawing repeated cheers from his party’s lawmakers and sustained heckling from the opposition amid the political theater that traditionally accompanies publication of the government’s budget. Outside Parliament’s walls, though, protesters demanded help with the rising cost of living_ and got nothing.