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The UK government is being called upon to "step up" and reimburse the £24.5 million cost incurred during recent trips by Donald Trump and JD Vance to Scotland, according to a top Holyrood official.

Significant Provisional Costs Disclosed

Provisional costs totalling almost £24.5m for the two official trips have been published by the Scottish government.

Public Finance Minister McKee described the Westminster's unwillingness to provide funding as "absurd," arguing that both trips were obviously official, noting that the American leader held meetings with European Union chief the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Sir Keir Starmer during his summer visit in Scotland.

Details of the Visits and Associated Security Expenses

Donald Trump toured his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire 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 formal letter 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, particularly the Scottish police force."

The Scottish government estimates that the provisional cost for policing the presidential visit alone was £21 million, which involved peak daily deployments of more than four thousand police, while costs for the VP's visit were approximately £3m.

Large-Scale Policing Operation

This complex policing operation was the largest in Scotland since the passing of the late Queen in 2022, and included regional police, national divisions, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for expert assistance.

The Finance Secretary stated: "Following your decision not to provide funding to the Scottish government for expenses incurred in relation to the trip of Donald Trump to the nation in summer 2025 and the subsequent visit of Vice-President JD Vance, I am contacting you to ask that you reconsider this stance and offer full reimbursement for the cost of the trips."

Westminster Reply and Previous Example

The British administration stated that the trips were personal and "not official UK government business." A spokesperson commented: "The Scottish government are responsible for policing costs in Scotland as per agreed devolved funding arrangements."

While Robison pointed to previous precedent where the British administration reimbursed the expense of the president's 2018 trip to the nation, it is believed that trip followed a official UK government invitation, in which case it included security costs under its statement of funding policy.

"The UK government needs to step up and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was clearly a official trip … Particularly when you have the PM Keir Starmer spending time with the president, holding joint briefings with them, conducting international business with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was merely a private holiday trip."