Government must stick to austerity plan – Osborne

LONDON (Reuters) – The government will stick to its deficit-cutting plan, Chancellor George Osborne said on Wednesday shortly after data showed the economy contracted by 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011. “Britain has substantial debts and if we don’t deal with those debts our economic problems will be substantially worse. And what we were reminded of this week is that the rest of the world is also facing real economic problems and countries that aren’t dealing convincingly with their debt face worse economic prospects than we do,” Osborne said

FTSE gains, eyes on Fed

LONDON (Reuters) – Top shares rose on Wednesday after earnings from consumer technology bellwether Apple boosted sentiment, as investors bet the U.S. Federal Reserve will point to interest rates continuing at near zero for a sustained period of time. But UK fourth-quarter GDP figures, due at 0930 GMT, were seen tempering enthusiasm

Osborne says Q4 GDP fall "disappointing"
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