THE No campaign has brushed aside the SNP's bid to ban referendum donations of more than £500 from outwith Scotland.

The official anti-independence campaign, likely to last four months, will from the summer of 2014 have strict limits on what can be donated and spent.

However, up until then, there will be no official limits. The pro-independence campaign has at least £2 million in its coffers.

Angus Robertson, the Nationalists' campaign director, has called for "fair play and transparency", saying: "This referendum is about Scotland's future and it should not be unduly influenced by significant donations from those who won't have the vote."

He said all were welcome to join the debate about Scotland's future but that should be as far as "external input or influence should extend".

The proposed limit on donations of more than £500 to those individuals on the electoral register in Scotland would mean gifts from trade unions and companies would be prohibited.

A Labour source close to the No campaign leadership said Mr Robertson's camp was "mad" if it thought it could introduce such a limit. "The Nationalists want to set the question, set the timing, set who adjudicates and now decide who gives money. Are they really saying that a Scot should be banned from giving money because they live five miles south of the Border? They're being ridiculous."