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

Substantial Provisional Costs Revealed

Provisional costs totalling nearly £24.5m for the pair of working visits have been published by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee described the UK government's refusal to provide funding as "ridiculous," arguing that both trips were clearly work-related, pointing out that the American leader held meetings with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Keir Starmer during his July visit in the northern nation.

Particulars of the Trips and Related Policing Costs

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

In a written communication to the Treasury minister James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison wrote that the visits placed "significant strains and costs on Scottish public services, especially the Scottish police force."

The Scottish government estimates that the provisional cost for policing the presidential visit by itself was £21 million, which reflected peak daily deployments of over four thousand police, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3m.

Complex Policing Operation

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

The Finance Secretary stated: "After your choice not to offer financial support to the Scottish government for expenses accrued in connection with the visit of President Donald Trump to Scotland in summer 2025 and the subsequent trip of VP Vance, I am writing you to request that you reconsider this stance and provide complete repayment for the cost of the visits."

UK Government Response and Past Precedent

The UK government maintained that the trips were private and "not part of official government duties." A representative added: "Holyrood are responsible for security expenses in the country as per agreed funding agreements for devolved matters."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to past instances where the UK government covered the cost of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is understood that visit followed a formal UK government invitation, in which instance it covered protection expenses under its statement of funding policy.

"Westminster must take action and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was clearly a official trip … Particularly when you have the prime minister 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."