BRITAIN's biggest lottery winners have doubled their funding for Scottish independence by giving £1 million to the Yes Scotland campaign.
Chris and Colin Weir, the lifelong SNP supporters who won £161m in the EuroMillions lottery two years ago, have paid £500,000 each into the Yes Scotland coffers, it was revealed yesterday.
The donations are in addition to the £1m the couple from Largs in North Ayrshire earlier made to the SNP, which remains with the party. A spokeswoman said: "Chris and Colin Weir's lifelong commitment to independence is well known.
"Their donations to this cause are in line with their financial means and reflect their desire to see a level playing field for this important issue to be debated fully and fairly."
Figures released yesterday by the campaign show that the next biggest donation is £250,000 from East Lothian international fund manager Angus Tulloch, who is another previous SNP donor.
There are only two other donors of significant sums. Elgin-based construction firm boss Sandy Adam, who is believed to be a friend of Yes Scotland chief executive Blair Jenkins, gave £25,000, while Glasgow pharmacist Dr William Wilson gave £8000.
The SNP has not extended an open line of credit to the campaign, but in its early days the party bank-rolled the launch of Yes Scotland, its temporary offices and start-up costs, so these appear as a donation in kind of £342,797 in the declaration. Missing from the list are high-profile past SNP donors such as Brian Souter of transport group Stagecoach and hotel and property developer Dan MacDonald. The unknown quantity is whether such donors have been put off by not having to dig deep because of the Weirs, or whether they are keeping their powder dry for later in the campaign.
But the rival camp backing a No vote next year, Better Together, poured scorn on the declarations, with campaign director Blair McDougall saying: "Yes Scotland claim a broad base of support, but these figures make it clear that the overwhelming majority of their funds have come from the SNP and SNP donors.
"They have been completely unable to move beyond the traditional and core support of the SNP. They have also failed to attract as many small donors as Better Together.
"It is our campaign which has the greater grassroots support."
Yes Scotland chief executive Mr Jenkins said: "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 information given today also reflects the fact that Yes Scotland is a self-financing campaign and that we are being funded by Scotland for Scotland."
He added: "That, in our view, is how it should be and why, unlike our opponents, we are not prepared to accept large donations from people outside Scotland."
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