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The UK government is being called upon to "step up" and reimburse the £24.5m cost incurred during the recent visits by former President Trump and JD Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a senior Scottish minister.

Significant Provisional Costs Revealed

Provisional expenses amounting to nearly £24.5 million for the pair of working visits have been made public by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee labeled the UK government's refusal to provide funding as "ridiculous," arguing that both trips were obviously official, noting that the American leader held discussions with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer during his summer stay in the northern nation.

Particulars of the Visits and Related Security Expenses

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

In a written communication to the Treasury’s chief secretary James Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary wrote that the visits placed "significant strains and costs on Scottish public services, especially Police Scotland."

The Edinburgh administration estimates that the estimated expense for securing the presidential visit alone was £21m, which involved peak daily deployments of over 4,000 officers, while expenses for the VP's visit were about £3m.

Complex Policing Operation

This complex policing operation was the largest in the country since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and involved regional police, specialist units, special constables and officers from across the UK for specialist support.

Robison wrote: "Following your decision not to offer financial support to the Scottish government for expenses accrued in relation to the visit of Donald Trump to Scotland in July 2025 and the following visit of Vice-President JD Vance, I am contacting you to request that you reconsider this stance and offer full reimbursement for the cost of the visits."

Westminster Reply and Past Precedent

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

While the Finance Secretary referenced previous precedent where the British administration covered the expense of the president's 2018 trip to the nation, it is believed that trip came after a formal UK government invitation, in which case it covered protection expenses under its statement of funding policy.

"The UK government needs to step up and pay. I think it’s ridiculous, it was clearly a work visit … Particularly when you have the PM Sir Keir spending time with Donald Trump, holding joint briefings with him, engaging in global diplomacy with them, its really hard to believe to say this was merely a personal vacation."