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The UK government is being called upon to "step up" and reimburse the £24.5m expense incurred during the recent visits by Donald Trump and Vice-President Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a top Scottish minister.

Significant Provisional Costs Revealed

Preliminary costs amounting to almost £24.5m for the two working visits have been made public by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee labeled the Westminster's refusal to offer financial support as "ridiculous," arguing that both visits were clearly work-related, noting that the US president held meetings with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer during his July stay in the northern nation.

Particulars of the Trips and Associated Security Expenses

The former president toured his golfing resorts at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie over a five-day trip in the summer, while American VP JD Vance spent around a long weekend in the Ayrshire region in late summer.

In a formal letter to the Treasury’s chief secretary Chief Secretary Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary wrote that the visits placed "significant operational and financial burdens on public services in Scotland, especially the Scottish police force."

The Edinburgh administration estimates that the estimated expense for securing the president's trip by itself was £21m, which involved peak daily deployments of over four thousand police, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3m.

Complex Policing Operation

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

The Finance Secretary wrote: "After your decision not to provide funding to Scotland for expenses incurred in connection with the visit of Donald Trump to Scotland in summer 2025 and the subsequent trip of Vice-President Vance, I am contacting you to ask that you reconsider this decision and offer complete repayment for the cost of the visits."

Westminster Reply and Previous Example

The UK government stated that the trips were personal and "not official UK government business." A representative commented: "The Scottish government are responsible for security expenses in the country as per established devolved funding arrangements."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to past instances where the British administration covered 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 included security costs under its funding guidelines.

"Westminster needs to step up and cover the cost. I think it’s ridiculous, it was obviously a work visit … Especially when you have the prime minister Sir Keir spending time with the president, holding joint briefings with him, engaging in international business with them, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was just a private holiday trip."