The EuroMillions Winners who account for 85% of the Yes Scotland campaign funds

 

THE EUROMILLIONS WINNERS WHO ACCOUNT FOR 85% OF THE YES SCOTLAND CAMPAIGN FUNDS

Could the numbers be up for the United Kingdom after EuroMillions winners Chris and Colin Weir make massive donation to Scottish Independence campaign?The campaign for Scottish Independence has received another hefty cash donation from £161m EuroMillions lottery winners Chris and Colin Weir. Official figures have shown that the couple have donated a further £2.5m to the Yes Scotland campaign, this comes a year after they had donated £1m. The donations make up around 85% of total donations made to the campaign.Yes Scotland Chief executive Blair Jenkins said: “We greatly appreciate and are hugely encouraged by the thousands of people across Scotland who have made donations – both large and small – according to their financial means.The size of the donations from the lottery winners has been criticised by Blair McDougall who is the campaign director for ‘Better Together’ who are opposed to Scottish independence. Mr McDougall claimed that the revelation about the donations from the Weirs explained why the Yes Scotland campaign had “been hiding their donations for so long.” He added “Whilst Better Together relies on the support of a broad mixture of large donors and thousands of ordinary people giving what they can, it is clear that the nationalists are almost completely dependent on one source of income."The Weirs are long-time supporters of the Scottish Nationalist Party so their huge donations are not exactly surprising. In a letter published in some Scottish newspapers the couple defended their donations saying that in a democracy “we each have the right to support political campaigns of our choosing and to contribute financially, provided we do so in line with the rules." They added that their donations would “ensure there was the chance of an informed debate.”They denied allegations that they had been duped into giving the money to the campaign stating “As lifelong supporters of independence, it would be strange if we did not support the Yes Scotland campaign. No one bullied or targeted us.”The independence referendum will be held on September 18th, with the official campaigning period getting under way on May 30th.