London Briefing/Chris Johns: Another UK budget day and calls for its abolition are finally being heard. Three cheers for that. The budgetary process has needed significant reform for many years, starting with the obvious need to scrap the big day itself.

Budgets were big affairs when the Chancellor felt willing and able to spring major policy changes. In the days when fiscal policy was an important part of the government's armoury we could look forward to surprise changes in income tax, VAT or corporation tax - sometimes all three at once.

The secrecy surrounding the budget used to be appropriate but no longer seems necessary. When there was a chance of a few percentage points on VAT, or when the top rate of tax came down from 60 per cent to 40 per cent in one fell swoop, it was obvious why there had to be a modicum of discretion.

Memories of empire were recalled when it was declared that the Chancellor and the rest of the Treasury were in Purdah. This portentously announced the period during which the Chancellor and his minions would have minimal contact with the outside world for fear of letting slip a budget secret or two.

As a junior oik in the Treasury many years ago, I recall being allowed during Purdah to have lunch with a well-known City economist only on condition that I subsequently submitted to the Permanent Secretary a transcript of our conversation.

Fiscal policy has changed beyond recognition since those days. Gordon now makes a very short, dreary and predictable speech and the accompanying documentation is full of mind numbing detail about little of any consequence. City traders don't bother to run a book on how long the Chancellor will speak for, a sure sign of waning interest.

Gone are the days when stockbrokers danced on their desks after a cut in the top rate of tax (yes, I once witnessed this). Budgets don't affect anything very much any more; they have long since passed their sell-by date. Sure, we still need tweaks to spending and taxation but these can be announced as they occur, throughout the fiscal year. Cramming a lot of insignificant announcements into a single day really wastes everybody's time. And is simply boring.

And boy, what a waste of time. The full budget machine is still in full swing. Newspapers produce lengthy supplements giving details of how representative individuals and families are going to be a net 13p a week better or worse off as a result of what Gordon has done.

Things are changing though. In my day we worked all night to produce our analysis of the budget for clients; I don't think that this happens any more. The necessary analysis can today be done in five minutes - or in advance.

Gordon will today talk a lot about prudence, growth, stability, low inflation, the longest economic expansion in history and how ordinary British people are becoming steadily more prosperous under New Labour. He will try to make odious comparisons with previous tory budgets, but this is getting harder each year, with most people trying to remember if there ever was a Chancellor before Gordon. But he won't do anything. A bit of fiddling here, a bit of tinkering there.

The annual budget has become an anachronism. The spotlight rightly falls on the more regular deliberations of the Bank of England, which probably annoys Gordon to distraction. Why don't we outsource fiscal policy the way we did with interest rate setting? That experiment has been a resounding success - an outside agency could arguably be just as successful.

Such thoughts are unrealistic, of course. We couldn't leave the Chancellor with nothing to do. And there is all that limelight that needs to be hogged. This probably explains why we still have to endure the whole tedious ritual. I wonder if one of his first acts as prime minister will be to abolish budget day?

Chris Johns is an investment strategist with Collins Stewart. All opinions are personal.