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The UK government is being called upon to "step up" and cover the £24.5 million cost incurred during the 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 almost £24.5 million for the two working visits have been made public by the Scottish government.

Public Finance Minister McKee described the Westminster's unwillingness to provide funding as "absurd," arguing that both trips were clearly work-related, pointing out that the American leader held discussions with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his summer visit in Scotland.

Particulars of the Visits and Related Security Expenses

The former president visited his golfing resorts at Turnberry and Menie 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 minister James Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary wrote that the trips placed "substantial strains and costs on Scottish public services, particularly Police Scotland."

The Edinburgh administration calculates that the provisional cost for policing the presidential visit alone was £21m, which reflected peak daily deployments of more than four thousand police, while costs for the VP's visit were about £3 million.

Large-Scale Security Mission

This extensive policing operation was the largest in Scotland since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and included local officers, specialist units, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for expert assistance.

The Finance Secretary stated: "Following your choice not to offer financial support to Scotland for costs accrued in connection with the visit of President Donald Trump to Scotland in summer 2025 and the following visit of VP Vance, I am writing you to ask that you reconsider this stance and provide full reimbursement for the expense of the trips."

Westminster Reply and Past Precedent

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

While Robison pointed to past instances where the UK government reimbursed the cost of Trump’s 2018 visit to the nation, it is believed that trip came after a formal UK government invitation, in which case it included security costs under its statement of funding policy.

"The UK government needs to step up and cover the cost. I think it’s unreasonable, it was clearly a work visit … Especially when you have the prime minister Sir Keir spending time with Donald Trump, having press conferences with them, engaging in international business with them, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was just a personal vacation."