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The British administration is being called upon to "step up" and cover the £24.5m expense incurred during recent visits by former President Trump and Vice-President Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a senior Scottish minister.

Significant Estimated Expenses Revealed

Preliminary expenses amounting to almost £24.5m for the two official trips have been made public by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee described the Westminster's unwillingness to offer financial support as "absurd," stating that both visits were clearly work-related, 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 stay in Scotland.

Particulars of the Trips and Related Policing Costs

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

In a written communication to the Treasury’s chief secretary Chief Secretary Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary stated that the visits placed "significant operational and financial burdens on Scottish public services, particularly Police Scotland."

The Edinburgh administration estimates that the provisional cost for policing the presidential visit by itself was £21 million, which reflected peak daily deployments of over 4,000 officers, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3 million.

Large-Scale Security Mission

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

Robison wrote: "Following your decision not to provide funding to Scotland for costs incurred in connection with the visit of Donald Trump to Scotland in summer 2025 and the following trip of Vice-President Vance, I am contacting you to ask that you review this stance and provide complete repayment for the cost of the visits."

UK Government Reply and Previous Example

The British administration maintained that the trips were private and "not part of official government duties." A spokesperson commented: "The Scottish government must cover policing costs in the country as per established devolved funding arrangements."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to previous precedent where the British administration reimbursed the cost of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is believed that trip came after a formal UK government invitation, in which instance it included protection expenses under its funding guidelines.

"Westminster must take action and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was obviously a work visit … Especially when you have the prime minister Sir Keir spending time with the president, having press conferences with him, conducting global diplomacy with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was just a personal vacation."