🔗 Share this article

The UK government is being urged to "take responsibility" and cover the £24.5m expense incurred during recent trips by former President Trump and Vice-President Vance to Scotland, according to a senior Holyrood official.

Significant Provisional Costs Revealed

Preliminary expenses totalling almost £24.5 million for the pair of official trips have been made public by the Scottish government.

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

Details of the Visits and Related Security Expenses

Donald Trump toured his golfing resorts at Turnberry and Menie over a week-long period in July, while US vice-president JD Vance spent approximately four days in Ayrshire 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, especially the Scottish police force."

The Edinburgh administration calculates that the provisional cost for securing the presidential visit by itself was £21 million, which involved maximum daily assignments of more than four thousand police, while expenses for the VP's visit were approximately £3m.

Complex Policing Operation

This extensive policing operation was the largest in the country since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and involved regional police, specialist units, special constables and wider UK colleagues for specialist support.

Robison wrote: "Following your choice not to provide funding to the Scottish government for expenses accrued in connection with the visit of President Donald Trump to Scotland in summer 2025 and the following trip of Vice-President Vance, I am writing you to request that you reconsider this stance and offer complete repayment for the cost of the trips."

UK Government Reply and Past Precedent

The UK government maintained that the visits were private and "not part of official government duties." A spokesperson added: "The Scottish government must cover policing costs in Scotland as per agreed funding agreements for devolved matters."

While Robison referenced previous precedent where the UK government covered the expense of Trump’s 2018 visit to the nation, it is understood that trip followed a formal invitation from Westminster, in which instance it included security costs under its funding guidelines.

"The UK government needs to step up and cover the cost. I think it’s unreasonable, it was clearly a work visit … Particularly when you have the prime minister Sir Keir spending time with Donald Trump, holding joint briefings with him, conducting global diplomacy with them, its really hard to believe to say this was just a personal vacation."