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

Significant Provisional Costs Revealed

Preliminary costs totalling nearly £24.5 million for the two working visits have been published by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee described the Westminster's unwillingness to offer financial support as "absurd," stating that both trips were clearly official, noting that the American leader held discussions with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his July stay in Scotland.

Details of the Trips and Associated Policing Costs

The former president toured his golfing resorts at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie over a five-day period in the summer, while American VP Vance spent around a long weekend in the Ayrshire region in August.

In a formal letter to the Treasury’s chief secretary James Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary stated that the visits placed "significant operational and financial burdens on public services in Scotland, especially Police Scotland."

The Edinburgh administration calculates that the estimated expense for policing the presidential visit alone was £21 million, which involved maximum daily assignments of more than four thousand police, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were about £3m.

Large-Scale Policing Operation

This extensive policing operation was the largest in the country since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and involved regional police, specialist units, special constables and officers from across the UK for specialist support.

The Finance Secretary stated: "After your choice not to provide funding to the Scottish government for expenses incurred in connection with the visit of Donald Trump to Scotland in July 2025 and the following trip of Vice-President Vance, I am writing you to request that you review this decision and offer full reimbursement for the cost of the visits."

UK Government Reply and Previous Example

The UK government maintained that the trips were personal and "not official UK government business." A spokesperson added: "Holyrood are responsible for security expenses in Scotland as per agreed funding agreements for devolved matters."

While Robison pointed to past instances where the British administration reimbursed the cost of the president's 2018 trip to the nation, it is believed that visit came after a official invitation from Westminster, in which instance it included protection expenses under its funding guidelines.

"Westminster needs to step up and pay. I think it’s ridiculous, it was clearly a official trip … Particularly when you have the PM Keir Starmer meeting with the president, having press conferences with him, conducting global diplomacy with them, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was merely a personal vacation."