Britain takes budget baby steps on the path to growth

Jeremy Hunt: a reasonably competent spring budget by Britain’s chancellor will not be enough to get the country’s stricken economy back on its feet. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/WPA Pool/Getty Images) It says much about current expectations in Britain that a flatlining economy is seen as a cause for celebration. But so it was on Wednesday lunchtime when the UK's chancellor of the exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, told the House of Commons during his spring budget speech that Britain should avoid a recession this year after all. He was met with cheers from the backbenches. Later that evening, officials from the Treasury gathered…