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The UK government is being urged to "take responsibility" and cover the £24.5 million expense incurred during the recent visits by former President Trump and JD Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a top Scottish minister.

Significant Estimated Expenses Revealed

Preliminary costs amounting to almost £24.5 million for the two working visits have been published by the administration in Edinburgh.

Public Finance Minister McKee labeled the UK government's refusal to provide funding as "ridiculous," stating that both trips were obviously official, noting that the US president held meetings with European Union chief the EU's von der Leyen and UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer during his summer stay in Scotland.

Details of the Visits and Related Security Expenses

Donald Trump visited his golfing resorts at Turnberry and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a five-day period in the summer, while American VP Vance spent around four days in Ayrshire in August.

In a written communication to the Treasury’s chief secretary James Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary stated that the visits placed "significant strains and costs on Scottish public services, especially Police Scotland."

The Scottish government estimates that the provisional cost for securing the presidential visit alone was £21m, which involved peak daily deployments of more than four thousand police, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3m.

Complex Policing Operation

This extensive security mission was the biggest in Scotland since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and included local officers, specialist units, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for specialist support.

The Finance Secretary wrote: "Following your decision not to offer financial support to Scotland for costs accrued in relation to the visit of Donald Trump to the nation in summer 2025 and the following trip of VP JD Vance, I am writing you to ask that you reconsider this stance and offer complete repayment for the cost of the visits."

UK Government Response and Previous Example

The UK government stated that the visits 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 Robison pointed to previous precedent where the UK government reimbursed the expense of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is believed that visit followed a official UK government invitation, in which case it covered protection expenses under its funding guidelines.

"The UK government needs to step up and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was obviously a work visit … Particularly when you have the prime minister 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 just a private holiday trip."