SNP abandons Â£1m fundraising appeal for indyref2

THE SNP has scrapped its Â£1million fundraising drive for another Scottish independence referendum. Picture: John Devlin/TSPL

Nicola Sturgeon’s party had hoped to generate campaign funds through its ref.scot website, which was created within minutes of the First Minister announcing indyref2 in March.

The website features a video appeal from Ms Sturgeon and the site asks people to sign a “pledge to support #ScotRef” - the social media tag the nationalists prefer when referring to a second referendum.

It previously included a cash appeal in which Ms Sturgeon asked people to “make a donation today”.

Nicola Sturgeon: Election may not have been indyref2 rejection

The donations drive was still running last Thursday, and by 6pm had raised £482,000, with 10 days of its 100-day operation left to go, The Herald reports.

The appeal for cash disappeared from the website after the election, when it was replaced with an error message stating: “The page you were looking for was not found.”

The SNP lost 21 seats to the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats in last week’s election.

Ruth Davidson, whose Scottish Conservatives ejected Mr Salmond from Gordon and Mr Robertson from Moray, said her party is enjoying an “historic night”.

She told media “Indyref2 is dead, that’s what we have seen tonight.

Ms Sturgeon has stopped short of opponents’ demands to take a second referendum “off the table” as she welcomed her cohort of 35 MPs at Westminster yesterday.

Asked about whether or not the election result showed that her call for a second independence poll was wrong, Ms Sturgeon said: “I have said I will reflect on the outcome of the election and I will do that carefully and in discussion with colleagues across the SNP.

The rest of the site, subtitled “Our Nation’s Future. Your Choice”, remains in place.