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The UK government is being called upon to "take responsibility" and reimburse the £24.5 million expense incurred during the recent visits by Donald Trump and JD Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a top Holyrood official.

Substantial Provisional Costs Revealed

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 offer financial support as "absurd," stating that both visits were obviously work-related, pointing out that the US president held meetings with European Union chief the EU's von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his July visit in the northern nation.

Details of the Trips and Related Security Expenses

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

In a formal letter to the Treasury minister James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison wrote that the visits placed "significant strains and costs on public services in Scotland, particularly Police Scotland."

The Edinburgh administration calculates that the provisional cost for policing the president's trip alone was £21 million, which involved peak daily deployments of over 4,000 officers, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were about £3 million.

Large-Scale Policing Operation

This complex security mission was the largest in the country since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and included regional police, national divisions, volunteer officers and officers from across the UK for specialist support.

Robison stated: "Following your choice not to provide funding to Scotland for expenses incurred in connection with the trip of President Donald Trump to Scotland in summer 2025 and the subsequent trip of Vice-President Vance, I am contacting you to request that you review this stance and offer full reimbursement for the cost of the visits."

Westminster Response and Previous Example

The UK government stated that the visits were personal and "not official UK government business." A representative added: "Holyrood must cover policing costs in Scotland as per established funding agreements for devolved matters."

While the Finance Secretary referenced past instances where the British administration covered the cost of the president's 2018 trip to the nation, it is believed that visit came after a formal UK government invitation, in which instance it covered protection expenses under its funding guidelines.

"Westminster needs to step up and cover the cost. I think it’s ridiculous, it was obviously a work visit … Particularly when you have the PM Keir Starmer spending time with Donald Trump, holding joint briefings with them, conducting global diplomacy with them, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was merely a private holiday trip."