What's behind the Budget tradition of the chancellor's red box?

On Wednesday, the Labour government will unveil its first Budget in nearly 15 years, outlining the state of the economy and explaining how it plans to spend and raise money across the coming year.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver the annual Budget statement, a speech made to MPs in the House of Commons which sets out the government's approach to taxation and spending.

Before her speech, she'll be photographed on the steps of 11 Downing Street, holding a red box. But where did this tradition come from, and what's inside?

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What is the Budget box?

The chancellor uses the distinctive red box to carry the Budget speech from their official residence in 11 Downing Street to the House of Commons.

Every year, they pose on the steps of 11 Downing Street while photographs are taken of them holding the red box.

Why does the Chancellor carry it?

The word Budget originates from the old French word for little bag, "bougette". The Budget statement has historically been brought to the Commons in a leather bag, which has since been replaced by the red box.

The same wooden box, covered with scarlet leather and lined with black satin, was hand-crafted in the 1860s and used for about 100 consecutive years.

Lord Callaghan broke with tradition in 1965 when he used a new box. Gordon Brown later became the second chancellor to use a new box for the Budget in 1997. A new red box was then used again by George Osbourne in 2011.

Is the red box only used for the Budget?

Red boxes, also known as despatch boxes, are used on a daily basis by ministers to transport official government papers.

They are lead lined to protect papers inside - a feature designed in the past to ensure the box sank if it fell overboard a ship which had been captured.

The despatch boxes are also embossed with the royal cypher of the reigning monarch in gold.

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