THE first major potential buyer for the Met Office has emerged as firms begin to size up Government assets which could be sold off to balance the nation's books.

VT Group, formally shipbuilder Vosper Thornycroft, has confirmed it would "look closely" at the Exeter-based weather forecaster.

Ministers have repeatedly suggested the Met Office could be privatised but have rejected calls from opposition parties to make details of talks public.

Earlier this year, Gordon Brown proposed "selling off the unproductive assets we don't need to pay for the services we do need".

Paul Lester, chief executive of the defence and services company, has now confirmed he would consider bidding if the right government assets were put up for sale.

"The Met Office is also something we would look at because two of its biggest customers — the MoD and the BBC — are also our biggest customers," he said.

It is understood VT has built up a £400 million war chest to spend on acquisitions and assets, but its potential for purchasing the Met Office will depend on when, if at all, it is placed on the market.

The Met Office, a division of the Ministry of Defence, has a turnover of £185 million a year. It has developed into a global leader for weather forecasting and employs a total of 1,700 people around the world.

Plans to bring in private money were originally shelved by a Government review, but the deficit faced by the Treasury means a sell-off is again an option. More details are expected when Chancellor Alistair Darling presents his Pre-Budget Report next month.

Mr Lester also revealed VT would look at bidding for the Defence Support Group, which provides support services to the armed forces.

And he suggested that cost-cutting moves by central and local government could also present new opportunities for VT.

He said: "Research shows that outsourcing saves up to 30 per cent, but results in improved services. There is going to have to be a big focus on reducing overheads in Government as budgets come under severe pressure. This means there are fantastic opportunities for outsourcing."

Earlier this year the Treasury identified assets worth about £35 billion that could be sold-off to cut national debt.

They include the Royal Mint, Ordnance Survey and the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre.

And union leaders have warned thousands of jobs could be put at risk by plans to privatise the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, which supports the Royal Navy on missions around the world.

Critics have branded the plans "a national disgrace".