The UK's information watchdog has seized material from Cambridge Analytica stored at a "secure data centre" in Scotland, STV News has learned.

The firm has been embroiled in a scandal over the alleged misuse of Facebook data which has wiped billions of the social media company's value.

The recovery of material from servers in Scotland this week follows a raid on Cambridge Analytica's London offices last month.

The seizures are part of the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) investigation into the use of personal data by political campaigns and social media companies.

The existence of the Cambridge Analytica's Scottish servers was revealed in a legal document outlining a potential deal between the firm and UKIP.

A UKIP spokesman said the proposal - which would have involved profiling party members and sharing the information with pro-Brexit campaigners Leave.EU - did not go ahead.

It is unclear what the servers, described in the legal document as a "secure data centre", contained.

It also emerged this week that Cambridge Analytica pitched its services to the SNP in February 2016, three months before the last Holyrood election.

Former company director Brittany Kaiser revealed the connection during testimony to MPs on Tuesday.

The SNP later acknowledged an "external consultant" had held one meeting with Cambridge Analytica in London but insisted the relationship had gone no further, describing the firm as "a bunch of cowboys".

Cambridge Analytica first hit the headlines following allegations that it had misused the personal Facebook data of as many as 87 million users.

Christopher Wylie, a former Cambridge Analytica employee turned whistleblower, claimed the data was harvested from Facebook users and used to psychologically profile them.

He alleges the profiles were used to deliver pro-Trump messages to potential voters in the 2016 US election.

It has also been claimed that harvested data may have been used to influence the outcome of Britain's vote to leave the European Union.