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The British administration is being called upon to "step up" and cover the £24.5 million cost incurred during recent visits by former President Trump and JD Vance to Scotland, according to a senior Holyrood official.

Significant Provisional Costs Disclosed

Preliminary expenses amounting to nearly £24.5m for the pair of working visits have been made public by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee labeled the UK government's refusal to provide funding as "absurd," arguing that both trips were clearly official, noting that the US president held discussions with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his July stay in Scotland.

Particulars of the Visits and Associated Policing Costs

The former president toured his golf courses at Turnberry and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a five-day period in July, while US vice-president JD Vance spent approximately a long weekend in the Ayrshire region in late summer.

In a written communication to the Treasury minister James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison wrote that the visits placed "significant operational and financial burdens on public services in Scotland, particularly the Scottish police force."

The Scottish government calculates that the estimated expense for policing the presidential visit by itself was £21 million, which involved maximum daily assignments of more than four thousand police, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3 million.

Large-Scale Policing Operation

This complex security mission was the largest in the country since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and involved regional police, national divisions, special constables and wider UK colleagues for expert assistance.

Robison wrote: "After your decision not to offer financial support to the Scottish government for expenses incurred in relation to the trip of President Donald Trump to Scotland in summer 2025 and the subsequent visit of Vice-President JD Vance, I am writing you to ask that you reconsider this stance and provide full reimbursement for the cost of the trips."

Westminster Response and Previous Example

The UK government stated that the trips were private and "not part of official government duties." A spokesperson added: "The Scottish government are responsible for security expenses in Scotland as per established funding agreements for devolved matters."

While the Finance Secretary referenced previous precedent where the UK government reimbursed the expense of Trump’s 2018 visit to Scotland, it is understood that trip followed a formal UK government invitation, in which instance it included protection expenses under its funding guidelines.

"Westminster needs to step up and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was clearly a work visit … Particularly when you have the prime minister Sir Keir meeting with the president, holding joint briefings with him, conducting global diplomacy with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was just a private holiday trip."