LONDON (Reuters) - Britain only just crept out of an 18-month
recession at the end of 2009, suggesting any monetary tightening
remains a long way off and raising fears about the prospects for
recovery ahead of an election due by June.

The Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday gross domestic
product rose by 0.1 percent between October and December, well below
analysts' forecasts for growth of 0.4 percent and lower than all the
predictions in a Reuters poll.

For 2009 as a whole, the economy shrank by 4.8 percent -- the worst yearly performance since records began in 1949.

The Labour government has been banking on a strong bounce back to
growth to help overturn its poor opinion poll ratings before an
election expected in 100 days, but these weaker than expected figures
make a political comeback even trickier.

"You can see there is a lot of uncertainty and therefore you would
expect as you come out of recession for things to fluctuate," Labour
finance minister Alistair Darling said.

"I think we are now on a path to recovery ... you need to maintain
your support, don't pull the rug from under our feet at the very time
that we can see recovery."

Sterling fell and gilt futures rose after data, which also showed
output fell 3.2 percent from the same period a year ago. From peak to
trough, the economy contracted six percent -- far worse than the
downturns of the early 1980s and 1990s.