There’s nothing wrong with taking stock of the nation's finances once a year.

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Businesses review budgets. Households review spending. People have annual dental and optical check-ups.

Governments should do the same. Nice. Sensible, in fact.

What’s less sensible is the theatre we have built around the process.

In most countries, the annual budget is basically a progress report against a longer-term plan. Governments have already set out a direction for the next five or ten years and then they check whether they remain on course. Do you know when the USA or Japan or Germany’s annual budget is? Of course you don’t, it’s BORING.

Our approach is different. The minute summer’s over, the guessing game begins. Newspapers speculate for months. Lobby groups descend on Westminster. Businesses sit in limbo. Voters try to second-guess tax changes.

And then on the day itself, the Chancellor reaches into the hat and reveals a collection of rabbits.

So maybe theatre is wrong – maybe I should have said street magic.

The result is that the country spends........

© LBC