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The UK government is being called upon to "step up" and cover the £24.5 million expense incurred during the recent visits by former President Trump and JD Vance to Scotland, according to a senior Scottish minister.

Significant Estimated Expenses Disclosed

Preliminary costs amounting to nearly £24.5 million for the two official trips have been published by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee labeled the UK government's unwillingness to provide funding as "absurd," stating that both trips were obviously official, pointing out that the US president held discussions with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Sir Keir Starmer during his summer stay in Scotland.

Details of the Trips and Related Policing Costs

The former president visited his golfing resorts at Turnberry and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a five-day trip in the summer, while US vice-president Vance spent approximately a long weekend in the Ayrshire region in late summer.

In a formal letter to the Treasury’s chief secretary James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison stated that the visits placed "substantial operational and financial burdens on Scottish public services, especially the Scottish police force."

The Scottish government calculates that the provisional cost for securing the president's trip by itself was £21m, which involved peak daily deployments of more than four thousand police, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3m.

Complex Security Mission

This extensive security mission was the largest in the country since the passing of the late Queen in 2022, and involved local officers, specialist units, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for specialist support.

Robison stated: "Following your decision not to provide funding to the Scottish government for costs incurred in relation to the trip of President Donald Trump to Scotland in summer 2025 and the following visit of VP Vance, I am contacting you to ask that you reconsider this stance and offer complete repayment for the cost of the visits."

UK Government Response and Previous Example

The British administration stated that the visits were personal and "not part of official government duties." A representative commented: "Holyrood are responsible for policing costs in Scotland as per agreed funding agreements for devolved matters."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to previous precedent where the UK government covered the expense of Trump’s 2018 visit to Scotland, it is believed that visit came after a formal invitation from Westminster, in which case it covered security costs under its funding guidelines.

"Westminster must take action and pay. I think it’s ridiculous, it was clearly a official trip … Especially when you have the prime minister Sir Keir spending time with the president, having press conferences with him, conducting global diplomacy with him, its really hard to believe to say this was merely a private holiday trip."