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The UK government is being urged to "take responsibility" and cover the £24.5m cost incurred during the recent trips by former President Trump and Vice-President Vance to Scotland, according to a senior Scottish minister.

Substantial Estimated Expenses Revealed

Preliminary costs amounting to almost £24.5 million for the two official trips have been published by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee labeled the Westminster's refusal to provide funding as "absurd," stating that both visits were obviously official, pointing out that the American leader held meetings with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Sir Keir Starmer during his summer stay in the northern nation.

Details of the Visits and Associated Policing Costs

Donald Trump visited his golf courses at Turnberry and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a week-long trip in July, while American VP JD Vance spent approximately four days in Ayrshire in late summer.

In a formal letter to the Treasury’s chief secretary James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison wrote that the trips placed "significant operational and financial burdens on Scottish public services, particularly Police Scotland."

The Edinburgh administration estimates that the estimated expense for policing the president's trip alone was £21m, which reflected maximum daily assignments of over four thousand police, while costs for the VP's visit were about £3 million.

Large-Scale Policing Operation

This extensive security mission was the biggest in Scotland since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and involved local officers, national divisions, volunteer officers and officers from across the UK for expert assistance.

The Finance Secretary stated: "After your decision not to offer financial support to Scotland for expenses incurred in connection with the visit of President Donald Trump to the nation in July 2025 and the following trip of VP JD Vance, I am contacting you to ask that you reconsider this stance and offer full reimbursement for the expense of the visits."

UK Government Reply and Previous Example

The British administration maintained that the visits were private and "not official UK government business." A representative added: "Holyrood are responsible for security expenses in the country as per agreed devolved funding arrangements."

While Robison referenced previous precedent where the UK government covered the expense of Trump’s 2018 visit to Scotland, it is believed that trip came after a official UK government invitation, in which instance it covered security costs under its funding guidelines.

"Westminster needs to step up and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was clearly a official trip … Especially when you have the PM Sir Keir meeting with the president, holding joint briefings with them, conducting global diplomacy with him, its really hard to believe to say this was merely a personal vacation."