Bailout hailed by Salmond; ECONOMY IN CRISIS ++.

FIRST Minister Alex Salmond yesterday welcomed a pounds 20billion funding package for small businesses.

He told Glasgow Chamber of Commerce: "It is the first approach which actually gets to the heart of what the logjam is.

"The logjam in the unavailability of lending and the cost of lending are serious problems for business.

"That freeze in the system has to be unfrozen."

Meanwhile, a financial enforcer was appointed yesterday as part of Gordon Brown's push to make the banks start lending again.

Banker Mervyn Davies, chairman of Standard Chartered, will join the Government as part of Business Secretary Peter Mandelson's team.