Budget 2012: Why is the Red Box so important?

Wednesday sees Chancellor George Osborne present his Budget for the next year, and in so doing, take part in a vital part of British government that has acquired its own rituals.

We’re all accustomed to chancellors standing outside 11 Downing Street, holding up a red case containing the budget speech, before heading for the House of Commons to deliver the speech.

As arcane British political traditions go, the Budget is one of the best.

We have to go back to the Norman era to find the origins of the Budget. Even the term “budget” comes from this period, from the French word “bougette” meaning “little bag”. The red case containing his speech which the chancellor holds up outside 11 Downing Street is the modern day “bougette”.

It was also after the Norman invasion of 1066 that the offices of the Treasury and Exchequer were founded, and still exist exist today. Although money isn’t counted out on a chess board, which gives us the term “exchequer”, these days.

While the Treasury and Exchequer were essentially part of the Royal household for many years, the growth of parliamentary democracy saw changes to how tax was raised and distributed.

In 1721, Sir Robert Walpole became, in practial terms, the first “prime minister” under George I. His actual title was First Lord of the Treasury as well as Chancellor of the Exchequer – an unthinkable double job in modern British politics – and he instituted a series of annual budgets.

But it was several decades before one of the key features of modern budgets was introduced - income tax.

This was introduced in 1798 under William Pitt the Younger. His political career covered a tumultous time in British history, with costly wars against a French nation on the brink of revolution, and a huge national debt incurred after the colonies in north America broke away from Britain. Not only did Pitt introduce a new tax, he made changes to the entire tax system, streamlining it, making it more efficient and essentially setting the template for the system we use today.

But despite today’s being a 21st century Budget, George Osborne will still carry out a long-standing tradition by standing outside 11 Downing Street, holding up a red case containing his speech.

Last year, he used the original box used by William Gladstone in 1865. The hand-crafted wooden box, lined with black satin and covered in scarlet leather, may look somewhat past its best now, but in these times of austerity, it seems a very appropriate “bougette” for the occasion.