THE No campaign in the independence debate is expected to launch next month.

Spearheaded by former Labour chancellor Alistair Darling, sources close to the campaign say it will be "relentlessly positive", urging people to choose the good things about the Union.

But details are conspicuously scarce. In keeping with the positive theme, its official name will not be the "No campaign", nor will it include the word Unionist, a label the SNP have been anxious to hang around their necks. The name is being kept secret for now.

Other members of the board include former Tory leader Annabel Goldie, former UK LibDem leader Charles Kennedy, the Labour MSPs Richard Baker and Jackie Baillie, Tory MSP David McLetchie, and Scottish LibDem convener Craig Harrow.

One source said pledges of money were already coming in from established donors to the three parties, as well as some outside of politics, and that these should reach £1 million by mid-June.

There wIill be no high-profile launch, as organisers want to build the campaign slowly, rather than bombard and potentially annoy voters.

"This is a hell of a long campaign. We're not convinced the public are engaged or excited by it yet. But politics is all about momentum. We have the momentum and he [Salmond] does not.

"The Yes campaign really needs to be ahead going into this, because usually the numbers tighten, but they're only supported by a third of people.''

The No campaign will be run by Blair McDougall, 33, a former chair of Labour Students who was a special adviser to the work and pensions minister James Purnell in the last Labour government.

A close ally of former Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy, McDougall also worked on David Miliband's ill-fated campaign to become Labour leader. Until recently he was national director of Movement for Change, a Labour-affiliated group aimed at boosting community organising.

Another source said that instead of the approach taken by the Yes Scotland campaign, whose launch on Friday included numerous celebrities, the No side would focus on everyday people and their lives. "There will be a contrast with their singers and poets. Ours will be more ordinary people, the views of folk in Shetland or Linlithgow," he said.