Scottish independence: Yes Scotland reveals donor list

Yes Scotland launched its campaign for independence in May 2012

The campaign for a Yes vote in next year's Scottish independence referendum has received donations of more than £1.7m, it has revealed.

Yes Scotland said more than 7,000 small donors had contributed about £112,000 since campaigning began in May 2012.

A further £1,283,000 came from five individual donors and the SNP contributed £342,797.

Large donors included Ayrshire lottery winners Christine and Colin Weir, who each gave the campaign £500,000.

Investment fund manager Angus Tulloch gave £250,000, Alexander Adam £25,000 and William Wilson £8,000.

Yes Scotland said the donations had all been made directly to the campaign which has been self-financing since September.

'Deeply appreciative'

The funding covers the period from the launch of the campaign in May 2012 until the end of March 2013.

Yes Scotland chief executive Blair Jenkins said: "Thousands of people in Scotland have donated to the Yes Scotland cause and have given what they can according to their financial means. We are deeply appreciative to each and every one of them."

"Although we will not be in the regulated period of the campaign until 16 weeks before the referendum, I said when I took up my appointment that we intended to be transparent about funding and that is why we are publishing this information today."

The Better Together campaign campaign to keep Scotland in the United Kingdom announced its funding at the weekend.

It has received donations of more than £1.1m since launching in June last year.

Its figures showed some 9,500 people had given it money, with oil trader Ian Taylor, of Vitol Oil, handing over £500,000 - almost half of the total.

The £500,000 donation by Mr Taylor, who has previously given large sums to the Conservative party and is reported to have a total wealth of £155m, was the largest by some distance.

He said he was "delighted to be in a position to help" the campaign, which is being led by former chancellor Alistair Darling.

However, the SNP called on Better Together to hand back the donation pending full answers to "serious questions" surrounding Vitol Oil, including allegations that it gave $1m to Serbian war criminal Arkan the Tiger and that it was being investigated by HMRC over possible tax avoidance.