[2][3][4] By the formal start of the referendum campaign period in May 2014, it had become the "biggest grassroots movement in Scottish political history", said Jenkins.

[13] In July 2013, the Sunday Herald reported that there were "persistent rumours" of funding problems within Yes Scotland, and suggested that these were related to Jacqueline Caldwell and Susan Stewart leaving the campaign organisation.

[17] In August 2013, the chief executive of Better Together, Blair MacDougall, accused figures within Yes Scotland of "copy[ing]" his campaign's slogan — "best of both worlds" — to "reassure voters over independence".

Details of the particular email that was accessed were not initially released, but it was later revealed to be correspondence with Elliot Bulmer in connection with an article he wrote for the Herald in July, A Scottish constitution to serve the commonweal.

Their campaign opponents, Better Together, accused Yes Scotland of "secretly paying off supposedly impartial experts" and urged an inquiry, as Bulmer is research director of the Constitutional Commission, a registered charity which states that it has no political alignment.

Yes Scotland said the payment was a "nominal fee for the considerable time and effort [Bulmer] spent" on the piece, and its content was not influenced.

[19] Then, the Telegraph reported that Police Scotland were opening a hacking inquiry in response to a complaint received from the campaign about internal emails that appeared to have been accessed illegitimately and leaked to the media.

[21] By that point, many of the social media groups previously using the 'Yes' term had switched to using 'the 45%' or variations thereon, basing the new name on the percentage of votes for their side in the referendum.

A contribution to the value of £342,797 was provided by the Scottish National Party to "fund the start-up and staffing costs including the official launch on May 25, 2012".

[33] By St. Andrew's Day of the same year, the figure had risen to 143,000, to which a Better Together spokesman responded that ″If they want to sign up enough Scots to win a majority, they will still be chasing signatures in 2018"[34] The total reached 372,103 by 24 May 2013,[35] and 789,191 by 9 June 2014.