LONDON—The U.K. economic recovery remains fragile, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday, as he announced that the government will lay out its budget plans on March 24, paving the way for a national election. In comments that suggest the U.K. isn't discounting the risk of the economy slipping back into recession, Mr. Brown said the "recovery is still in its early stages and remains very fragile." "There will be many months ahead of conflicting statistics, false hopes and mixed signals," he said in what is likely to be his last major economic speech before the election. The latest figures show that the U.K. pulled out of a deep, 18-month-long recession in the final quarter of 2009 but some economists have expressed concern that the unusually cold weather in January, a rise in the value-added tax rate and the impending general election could see the economy contract again in the coming months. Mr. Brown acknowledged the government is "worried" about the pace of recovery in the euro zone, saying that was a key factor pegging back exports which should otherwise have gained from the pound's weakness.[Read more...]