THE SNP has failed to attract any significant donations for the first time since being in office.
Scotland’s party of government declared no donations from individuals or private enterprises in the first three months of 2018, according to new records from the Electoral Commission.
Instead, the party’s only registered income was from taxpayers - £192,746 in opposition funds given to the SNP’s Westminster Group by the House of Commons.
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It was the first time the SNP has not registered a significant donation, other than public funding, since the third quarter of 2005.
For the following 12 years, the party declared at least one donation from an individual, company or bequest each quarter, up to and including the final quarter of 2017.
The threshold for reporting a donation given to the central party is £7500, but only £1500 if the money is given to a particular branch or accounting unit”.
The donations drought fits a recent pattern at the SNP, which has become increasingly reliant on unpredictable bequests and the lottery millionaires Chris and Colin Weir.
The last time the party banked large sums from a wide range of private donors was in the run up to the 2014 independence referendum.
Donations to the SNP were £4.4m in 2014, £1.5m in 2015 and £400,000 in 2016.
However income from membership fees doubled from £1.3m in 2014 to £2.6m in 2016.
Kwik Fit millionaire Sir Tom Farmer last donated in 2006, actor Sir Sean Connery in 2007, and the respected Scottish financiar Angus Tulloch in 2010.
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The Electoral Commission also reported that in the three months to March 31, the UK Tories accepted donations of £4.7m, Labour £1.5m, the LibDems £564,000, and the Greens £1800.
In addition, five opposition parties, including the SNP, accepted more than £1.7m in public funds to assist with their parliamentary work.
The SNP also repaid £100,000 in loans to the Weirs in the first quarter, leaving the party with outstanding loans of £165,553.
An SNP insider said Nicola Sturgeon was less popular with the business community than her predecessor Alex Salmond.
"That's quite disturbing given we're trying to make an economic pitch for independence," the source said.
Scottish Conservative chief whip Maurice Golden said: “In the last week we’ve seen the hardcore nationalists turn against Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP following the launch of its independence blueprint.
“Now it seems the big-money backers who’ve lined SNP pockets for so long are also turning away.”
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The SNP in turn criticised the Tories for recently taking money from Lubov Chernukhin, who is married to a crony of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
A spokesperson said: “The SNP are proud to be funded by tens of thousands of small donations from our mass membership and supporters across Scotland. The Tories are bankrolled by a handful of mega-rich, hedge fund bosses and dodgy Russians - including greedily accepting £20,000 for Ruth Davidson to have a lunch date with one of Putin's pals."
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