THE people and businesses who have bankrolled the No campaign this year have also given more than £5 million to the Conservatives, according to newly released official figures.

Electoral Commission filings show that all the No campaign groups attracted £2,732,723 in registered donations above £7500.

Of this, almost 89%, or £2.4m, went to the main Better Together campaign. The various Yes groups received £1,727,120, of which 81% went to the Yes Scotland movement.

It is understood both sides in the campaign also received large amounts in donations below £7500. However, these are not publicly declared. By cross-referencing the known donors with Electoral Commission records, the Sunday Herald has established that the Conservatives are the party of choice for backers of the No campaign.

Overall, those funding the No campaign since December 18, the date referendum spending is recorded from, have given £5,638,070 to the Tories since 2001, compared to £2,2446,656 to the Labour Party and £10,000 to the LibDems.

The Tory donors include Mark Bamford, son of the founder of JCB, who has given £2.2m to the Tories, and who gave £74,747 to the obscure No campaign group the Scottish Research Society, run by the former chair of Ukip in Scotland, the climate change sceptic Lord Monckton.

Flowidea Ltd, the company run by reclusive Swiss banker Henry Angest, which has given £1.65m to the Tories, also gave Better Together £100,000.

While Ian Taylor, chief executive of the oil trader Vitol, who has given almost £700,000 to the Tories, gave £30,000 to the London-based Let's Stay Together campaign and £10,000 to the below-the-radar No group WFS2014 Ltd. Taylor gave £500,000 to Better Together before the period covered by the Commission paperwork.

Broadland Properties Ltd, owned by Scarborough property millionaire John Guthrie, which has given £520,000 to the Tories, also gave £10,000 to the Better Together campaign.

Overall, known Tory donors gave £435,747 to No campaign groups between December and August 21.

The No campaign received £1,090,000 from Labour donors in the same period, though £1m came from one person, the author JK Rowling.

Yes group donors in the same period included people who had also given £4.3m to the SNP.

Around 80% of all Yes money came from established SNP donors, including £1m from EuroMillions winners Chris and Colin Weir, who have also given the SNP £1m each.

The Weirs also donated £1.25m each to Yes Scotland before the period covered.

Stagecoach founder Sir Brian Souter, whose controversial history on gay issues meant his cash wasn't welcome at Yes Scotland, gave £100,000 to Business for Scotland and £100,000 to Christians for Independence. Souter has given the SNP almost £2.2m.

Randall Foggie, a failed SNP council candidate from Fife, gave Yes Scotland £125,000, having previously given the SNP less than £4000.

The figures cover the period until August 21.

The final figures to be published before the referendum, which will cover August 22 to September 12, are due out on Tuesday.

The SNP's Derek Mackay said: "The fact that the No campaign is so overwhelmingly funded by wealthy Tories is perhaps one of the reasons that more and more Labour voters in Scotland are supporting independence."

A Better Together spokesman said: "We have thousands of individual small donors, and thousands of activists across the country."