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The UK government is being called upon to "take responsibility" and reimburse the £24.5m cost incurred during the recent trips by former President Trump and JD Vance to Scotland, according to a senior Holyrood official.

Significant Provisional Costs Revealed

Provisional costs totalling almost £24.5 million for the two working visits have been made public by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee described the UK government's refusal to offer financial support as "absurd," arguing that both visits were obviously official, noting that the US president held meetings with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Sir Keir Starmer during his summer stay in Scotland.

Details of the Trips and Associated Policing Costs

The former president visited his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a week-long period in July, while US vice-president JD Vance spent around four days in Ayrshire in late summer.

In a written communication to the Treasury’s chief secretary Chief Secretary Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison stated that the visits placed "substantial strains and costs on Scottish public services, especially the Scottish police force."

The Edinburgh administration estimates that the provisional cost for policing the president's trip alone was £21m, which reflected 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 security mission was the largest in the country since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and included regional police, specialist units, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for specialist support.

The Finance Secretary wrote: "Following your choice not to provide funding to Scotland for expenses incurred in connection with the visit of Donald Trump to the nation in July 2025 and the following trip of VP JD Vance, I am contacting you to request that you reconsider this decision and offer full reimbursement for the expense of the visits."

UK Government Reply and Previous Example

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

While Robison pointed to previous precedent where the British administration covered the cost of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is believed that visit came after a formal UK government invitation, in which case it covered security costs under its statement of funding policy.

"Westminster must take action and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was clearly a work visit … Especially when you have the prime minister Keir Starmer spending time with Donald Trump, having press conferences with them, engaging in international business with him, its really hard to believe to say this was merely a personal vacation."