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The British administration is being called upon to "step up" and reimburse the £24.5 million cost incurred during the recent trips by former President Trump and JD Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a top Holyrood official.

Substantial Estimated Expenses Revealed

Preliminary expenses amounting to nearly £24.5 million for the two working visits have been made public by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee described the UK government's unwillingness to offer financial support as "absurd," arguing that both trips were clearly work-related, pointing out that the US president held discussions with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his summer stay in the northern nation.

Details of the Visits and Related Policing Costs

The former president toured his golfing resorts at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie over a week-long period in the summer, while US vice-president Vance spent around four days in the Ayrshire region in August.

In a written communication to the Treasury minister James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison wrote that the visits placed "significant operational and financial burdens on Scottish public services, particularly Police Scotland."

The Edinburgh administration calculates that the provisional cost for policing the presidential visit by itself was £21 million, which involved maximum daily assignments of over 4,000 officers, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3 million.

Complex Policing Operation

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

The Finance Secretary stated: "After your decision not to offer financial support to the Scottish government for costs accrued in connection with the visit of President Donald Trump to the nation in summer 2025 and the following trip of Vice-President Vance, I am contacting you to request that you reconsider this decision and offer full reimbursement for the cost of the trips."

UK Government Response and Past Precedent

The British administration maintained that the trips were private and "not official UK government business." A representative added: "The Scottish government are responsible for policing costs in Scotland as per agreed funding agreements for devolved matters."

While Robison pointed to previous precedent where the UK government reimbursed the cost of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is understood that visit followed a formal UK government invitation, in which instance it included security costs under its funding guidelines.

"Westminster must take action and cover the cost. I think it’s unreasonable, it was obviously a official trip … Especially when you have the prime minister Keir Starmer 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 merely a personal vacation."