Leave it now - get your secateurs out in April (where you live, March down south) and cut back to within 2 inches of old wood. Do that every year at the same time.

I must rememeber that too, as I have a big Budleia in my garden, thanks for the tip Bamboo.

I found that you can cut them back at any time if they're getting too large for the space available. They're unkillable IMHO, they come back whatever you do. Very reassuring!

Great! Thanks for that! Now i just need to remember to do it! lol

What I tend to do is cut off all the dead heads in the autumn to save them branches drooping too much, then give it a hard prune in the spring.

thats what i do as well Donnaj1dh