For us economics journalists, Budget day is an exhausting but exhilarating experience

When the chancellor announces the day of the Budget, something strange happens to the economics journalist.

The stomach tightens, as if you’re about to go over the big dip on a roller coaster. The heart rate rises. The arm jerks forward in search of a diary to ring the date.

In my experience there is no more stressful, infuriating, intimidating, tiring – but also exhilarating and satisfying – working day for an economics journalist than Budget Day (yes, with a capital B and D).

You hear the drums long before the opposing army arrives over the hill, in the form of leaks, kite-flying exercises by ministers in broadcast interviews, and all the other shop-worn practices of public opinion and media “guidance”.

Your inbox starts overflowing with analyses (guesses) from City economists and accountants on what’s going to be in that red box that the chancellor ceremonially holds aloft in front of No 11 Downing Street. The endless speculation ratchets up the excitement.

And then the day itself arrives. Even as the chancellor is speaking you’re typing numbers into an excel spreadsheet, showing how the public borrowing forecasts compare to the last set. Is the deficit coming down more slowly? How much extra borrowing does that mean in a nice, round cash figure? What’s the new GDP growth forecast? When did we last have a worse one? Who gets hit by that weird tax rise he just announced?

And the news editor will want to have all these questions answered while the speech is still being delivered. If you can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, as they say, this job isn’t for you.

Then the chancellor sits down and it’s a brutal race against the clock. In recent years, over the span of just five hours I’ve had to produce three pieces of detailed work including a story of the Budget in charts, a long Q&A on what it means and a Voices opinion piece to boot.

This year’s Budget is in six days’ time, on 29 October. Unusually, it’s a Monday. Some say it’s because there’s Brexit business which meant the usual Wednesday (31 October) wasn’t a possibility. More plausible is the explanation that Philip Hammond didn’t relish the inevitable “Halloween Budget” front pages.

But here’s the really frightening bit: Hammond doesn’t start speaking until 3.30pm this year, rather than the usual 12.30pm, giving us economic hacks three hours less time to do our stuff after he sits down. It’s most definitely trick, not treat, for our profession this year.

Yours,

Ben Chu

Economics editor