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

Significant Provisional Costs Revealed

Preliminary costs totalling almost £24.5 million for the pair of official trips have been published by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee described the Westminster's refusal to offer financial support as "absurd," arguing that both visits were obviously work-related, pointing out that the American leader held meetings with European Union chief the EU's von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his summer visit in Scotland.

Details of the Trips and Associated Security Expenses

The former president visited his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a five-day period in July, while American VP Vance spent around a long weekend in Ayrshire in late summer.

In a formal letter to the Treasury minister James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison stated that the trips placed "substantial operational and financial burdens on Scottish public services, particularly Police Scotland."

The Scottish government calculates that the provisional cost for policing the president's trip by itself was £21 million, which involved maximum daily assignments of over four thousand police, while expenses for the VP's visit were about £3m.

Complex Security Mission

This complex policing operation was the biggest in the country since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and involved local officers, specialist units, special constables and officers from across the UK for specialist support.

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

UK Government Response and Past Precedent

The British administration maintained that the trips were private and "not official UK government business." A spokesperson commented: "Holyrood must cover security expenses in the country as per agreed devolved funding arrangements."

While the Finance Secretary referenced past instances where the UK government covered the cost of Trump’s 2018 visit to Scotland, it is believed that trip followed a formal invitation from Westminster, in which instance it included security costs under its statement of funding policy.

"The UK government needs to step up and pay. I think it’s ridiculous, it was clearly a work visit … Especially when you have the PM Sir Keir meeting with the president, having press conferences with them, conducting global diplomacy with him, its really hard to believe to say this was just a personal vacation."