RURAL Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead has claimed that farmers would receive more generous EU subsidies if Scotland became independent.

Speaking following the launch of Farming for Yes, a sub-group of the pro-independence Yes Scotland campaign, he said: "Independence will deliver greater financial support for Scottish agriculture not least the extra hundreds of millions of pounds of support through the Common Agricultural Policy that we will qualify for under the funding formula if a Member State in our own right."

Farming for Yes will take the independence campaign to rural voters.

It follows the creation of Rural Better Together, an off-shoot of the pro-UK campaign.