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The British administration is being urged to "step up" and reimburse the £24.5 million expense incurred during recent trips by Donald Trump and JD Vance to Scotland, according to a top Holyrood official.

Substantial Provisional Costs Disclosed

Provisional expenses totalling nearly £24.5 million for the two official trips have been made public by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee labeled the UK government's refusal to provide funding as "absurd," arguing that both visits were clearly work-related, noting that the US president held meetings with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his summer stay in the northern nation.

Details of the Trips and Associated Policing Costs

Donald Trump visited his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a five-day trip in July, while American VP Vance spent around four days in the Ayrshire region in August.

In a formal letter to the Treasury’s chief secretary James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison stated that the visits placed "significant strains and costs on Scottish public services, especially Police Scotland."

The Edinburgh administration estimates that the estimated expense for policing the presidential visit by itself was £21 million, which involved peak daily deployments of more than 4,000 officers, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were about £3 million.

Complex Policing Operation

This complex policing operation was the biggest in the country since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and included local officers, national divisions, special constables and officers from across the UK for specialist support.

Robison stated: "After your choice not to provide funding to the Scottish government for costs incurred in connection with the visit of President Donald Trump to Scotland in summer 2025 and the subsequent trip of Vice-President Vance, I am writing you to ask that you reconsider this decision and offer full reimbursement for the cost of the visits."

Westminster Reply and Previous Example

The British administration stated that the trips were private and "not official UK government business." A spokesperson commented: "Holyrood are responsible for security expenses in Scotland as per established funding agreements for devolved matters."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to past instances where the British administration covered the expense of Trump’s 2018 visit to Scotland, it is understood that trip came after a formal invitation from Westminster, in which case it covered security costs under its funding guidelines.

"The UK government must take action and pay. I think it’s ridiculous, it was obviously a official trip … Particularly when you have the PM Keir Starmer meeting with Donald Trump, holding joint briefings with him, engaging in international business with them, its really hard to believe to say this was just a private holiday trip."