SNP conspicuously absent from list of new political donations

As the electoral commission itemised nearly £1.7m of new political donations on Thursday, one of the UK's big parties was conspicuous by its absence: the Scottish National party.

The SNP did not register a single gift worth more than £7,500 in either the first or second week of the "short campaign" - the final six weeks before the general election.

Likewise, the nationalists received only £5,580 in reportable donations in the last three months of 2014; the data have not yet been published for the first quarter of 2015.

At first glance there looks to be a sharp contrast between the SNP's position and the millions of pounds flooding into the four main Westminster parties - mostly to the Conservatives and Labour.

Yet this is deceptive. Nicola Sturgeon's party is showing no signs of financial fatigue, putting on a grand manifesto launch on Monday and able to fund a poster campaign all over Scotland. The SNP has loans of just £165,000, according to its accounts, and took £3.77m in donations during 2014 - five times as much as the Green party.

Some of that money was spent on the referendum battle, though how much will not be clear until the campaign accounts are published in May, after the general election.

In part, the SNP's finances are healthy thanks to donations from two big backers. Chris and Colin Weir, the couple who won £161m on the EuroMillions lottery in 2011, have given £3m to the SNP as well as the £3m they donated to Yes Scotland, the independence campaign.

In a rare public intervention last year they said: "As life-long supporters of independence, it would be strange if we did not support the Yes Scotland campaign. So that is what we have done . . . No one bullied or targeted us."

In addition Sir Brian Souter, the Stagecoach founder, has given a total of £2.6m to the party since 2007, including £400,000 on the eve of the referendum.

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The SNP has also seen its income boosted by the membership fees from its soaring band of supporters - up from 25,000 a year ago to 105,000 today. There is a £12 minimum joining fee while the party has a £48 "suggested" annual payment.

This income from membership fees would not appear in the electoral commission figures, being in each individual case below the £7,500 reportable threshold.

The data showed Labour receiving more than £1m in the second week of the campaign, far ahead of the other parties. It included £300,000 from Assem Allam, the owner of Hull City football club, and more than £700,000 from three unions.

The Tories took £492,000 from 17 individuals and groups while the Lib Dems were given just £50,000. That includes £30,000 from Ecotricity, the green energy group run by Dale Vince, which has previously given £250,000 to Labour.

Ukip, which received £8,000 in the period, also belatedly reported £63,000 of previous donations.

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