Start tightening your belts. The woman Gordon Brown has lined up to write the next Budget is not at all happy about projected public sector borrowing.

Daniela Oliveros, a 23-year-old from Venezuela, was one of a number of young people called to question the Prime Minister about his £1.2 billion youth jobs package when he kicked off his post-Budget roadshow at the Prince's Trust London offices this morning.

Still holding the microphone after Mr Brown's reply, Ms Oliveros decided to sneak in an extra question. She explained to the Prime Minister that she had a real interest in British politics and needed to arrange a two-week work placement. "I was wondering if your office would be willing to offer me the opportunity?"

"How can I refuse!" replied Mr Brown. "Let's sort it out."

After a series of earnest questions to the Prime Minister and James Purnell, the Work and Pensions Secretary, the cheekiness of the request prompted a round of laughter. As Ms Oliveros sat down in her front-row seat, Mr Brown leant towards her and added: "I look forward to that. You can write the next Budget."

After the meeting, Ms Oliveros told The Times that she came to Britain four years ago to learn English and stayed after getting married to a UK citizen. This month she started a 12-week personal development course in Newham, East London, run for the Prince's Trust, a charity which tries to develop young people's confidence.

Without it, she admitted, she might never have had the confidence in her heavily-accented English to ask the Prime Minister for a job. "I would have let the opportunity pass," she said.

Ms Oliveros said the Prime Minister approached her after this morning's Q&A and promised to set her placement up, although she has been warned that she might not be able to work at No 10.

But Mr Brown might want to reconsider his offer to let her write the next Budget speech after the Chancellor's announcement yesterday that public sector borrowing would balloon to £175 billion in the current financial year and national debt hit £1.4 trillion over the next five years - as long as growth forecasts are realised.

Ms Oliveros said she did not see how Mr Brown was going to be able to restore confidence in the economy and was worried that the levels of government borrowing over the next few years would leave Britain facing the kind of problems Japan faced during its "Lost Decade" in the 1990s.

"If you keep borrowing, you're giving the wrong example to people. You've got to come out with alternatives. Some people might have to suffer but it will actually benefit our future grandchildren," she said.

"I'm very worried about the national debt. I'm worried that the Government is being over-optimistic when we really are in trouble."

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