The SNP’s drive for independence has been handed a £1 million boost from a pair of Scots lottery winners.
Chris and Colin Weir, who scooped £161 million on the EuroMillions jackpot in July, handed over the biggest donation in the party’s 77-year history to First Minister Alex Salmond on Monday.
The couple from Largs said the money is to ensure the Scottish people are allowed to decide their constitutional future.
Mr Salmond has pledged to hold an independence referendum in the second half of the current Scottish Parliamentary term which started in May, but there has been suggestions the UK Government could usurp the SNP’s referendum agenda and organise its own.
”We have been supporters of the SNP for a long time, but this is about more than party politics,” said Mrs Weir. ”Every society, every country, should have the right and the opportunity to determine its own path. That’s something I’ve believed in strongly for a long time.
”We want to give the people of Scotland a fair chance in the referendum campaign that’s why we are supporting the SNP now and into the independence referendum.
”The only people with the right to decide Scotland’s future are the people of Scotland themselves and we want to support the SNP and the referendum campaign in helping Scotland make that decision fairly.”
The donation means the party now has a campaign fighting fund of almost £2m, following a bequest from Scotland’s former national poet, Edwin Morgan, who died last year leaving £918,000 to the SNP.
Mr Weir said it was ”no secret” he supported the SNP and he was happy to make the donation.
”I backed the party in the 1978 referendum and the behaviour of the UK parties convinced me that we should support this referendum properly,” he said. ”The party has done a good job in government and is doing a good job for Scotland. You can already see a difference and an increase in confidence around the country.
”We have things in Scotland like a council tax freeze, free prescriptions and help for ordinary households because we’ve elected an SNP Government.”
He added: ”But what matters to us first is that the SNP and the people of Scotland have a fair opportunity to make the case and decide on Scotland’s future.”
Mr Salmond welcomed the donation, saying: ”The Weirs have experienced great good fortune and they have already shown their generosity with their support for the Waverley Paddle Steamer and causes in their community,” he said.
”They have had a long-standing commitment to the SNP, and their welcome donation will allow the party to continue its work and to prepare for the referendum campaign ahead.”
The £161 million win made the couple Europe’s biggest ever lottery winners in July, and they have donated money to several good causes.
Photo Andrew Milligan/PA Wire