Scotland is in a better shape to come through an economic slowdown than it has been in the past, the director-general of the Confederation of British Industry has declared.

Greater diversification of the Scottish economy in recent times means it no longer feels like it will be "first off the bat to have a hard time" in a UK slowdown, Richard Lambert said in an interview with The Herald. Mr Lambert also said discussions with businesspeople in Scotland this week gave him the impression that economic troubles were "less marked" north of the border than in England.

And he reiterated Prime Minister Gordon Brown's point, made at CBI Scotland's annual dinner in Glasgow on Thursday night, about the significant improvement in the Scottish employment rate in recent times.

The CBI director-general said: "Employment levels in Scotland are much higher than they have been in past times of slowdown. The economy is more diversified than it was. From that perspective, it seems to me Scotland is better-placed to come through a slowdown than it has been in past times."

Getting to his baseball analogy to emphasise likely benefits of the Scottish economy's transformation, Mr Lambert added: "In past times like this, you felt that Scotland was first off the bat to have a hard time. It doesn't feel like that now."