LONDON (Bloomberg) -- The UK economy probably extended its recovery from the deepest recession on record in the first quarter, aiding Prime Minister Gordon Brown as he wages an election campaign on pledges to ensure growth.

Gross domestic product rose 0.4 percent from the fourth quarter, according to the median forecast of 31 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The increase matches the gain in the last three months of the year, when the six-quarter slump ended.
Brown said in the April 15 televised leaders’ debate the “wrong choices” by the next government could lead to a double- dip recession. The ruling Labour Party is trying to close the opposition Conservatives’ lead in voter opinion polls before the May 6 election as surveys show Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg won the debate.
“The most important for the prime minister is that there’s a plus sign in front of the number, because at least then he’ll be able to say the recovery is continuing,” Philip Shaw, an economist at Investec Securities in London, said in a telephone interview. “It will give the electorate something else to focus on and may be one of a cocktail of factors that begins to draw attention away from the leaders’ debates.”
The economy probably contracted 0.1 percent from a year earlier, according to a Bloomberg survey of 28 economists. The Office for National Statistics will publish the data at 9:30 a.m. in London on April 23.
Support for the Liberal Democrat party rose 3 points to 24 percent after the televised leaders’ debate, according to a ComRes Ltd. survey for ITV. The poll showed support for Labour fell 1 point to 28 percent, and backing for the Conservatives was unchanged at 35 percent.