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The British administration is being urged to "step up" and cover the £24.5m expense incurred during the recent trips by former President Trump and JD Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a senior Scottish minister.

Substantial Provisional Costs Revealed

Preliminary expenses amounting to nearly £24.5m for the pair of working visits have been made public by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee described the UK government's unwillingness to provide funding as "absurd," stating that both visits were clearly official, noting that the American leader held discussions with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and British PM Sir Keir Starmer during his summer visit in Scotland.

Particulars of the Visits and Associated Security Expenses

The former president toured his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a five-day period in July, while US vice-president JD Vance spent around four days in the Ayrshire region in late summer.

In a written communication to the Treasury’s chief secretary James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison wrote that the visits placed "substantial operational and financial burdens on public services in Scotland, particularly the Scottish police force."

The Scottish government calculates that the provisional cost for securing the president's trip by itself was £21 million, which reflected peak daily deployments of more than 4,000 officers, while costs for the VP's visit were approximately £3 million.

Large-Scale Security Mission

This extensive policing operation was the biggest in the country since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and included local officers, national divisions, volunteer officers and officers from across the UK for specialist support.

Robison stated: "Following your choice not to offer financial support to Scotland for costs incurred in connection with the trip of Donald Trump to Scotland in July 2025 and the subsequent trip of Vice-President JD Vance, I am writing you to ask that you reconsider this decision and offer full reimbursement for the expense of the trips."

UK Government Response and Previous Example

The British administration stated that the visits were private and "not part of official government duties." A representative commented: "The Scottish government must cover policing costs in the country as per established funding agreements for devolved matters."

While Robison referenced previous precedent where the UK government covered the cost of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is believed that visit came after a official invitation from Westminster, in which case it covered security costs under its funding guidelines.

"The UK government must take action and cover the cost. I think it’s unreasonable, it was clearly a official trip … Particularly when you have the PM Keir Starmer meeting with Donald Trump, having press conferences with him, engaging in global diplomacy with them, its really hard to believe to say this was merely a personal vacation."