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The UK government is being called upon to "step up" and reimburse the £24.5 million cost incurred during recent trips by Donald Trump and Vice-President Vance to Scotland, according to a senior Scottish minister.

Substantial Estimated Expenses Disclosed

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

Ivan McKee labeled the UK government's unwillingness to offer financial support as "absurd," arguing that both visits were obviously official, pointing out that the American leader held discussions with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his summer visit in the northern nation.

Details of the Visits and Related Policing Costs

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

In a written communication to the Treasury minister Chief Secretary Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison stated that the trips placed "substantial strains and costs on Scottish public services, especially Police Scotland."

The Edinburgh administration calculates that the provisional cost for policing the presidential visit by itself was £21m, which involved peak daily deployments of more than four thousand police, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were about £3 million.

Complex Policing Operation

This complex policing operation was the largest in Scotland since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and involved local officers, specialist units, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for specialist support.

Robison wrote: "After your choice not to provide funding to Scotland for costs accrued in connection with the trip of President Donald Trump to the nation in July 2025 and the following visit of Vice-President Vance, I am contacting you to ask that you reconsider this decision and offer complete repayment for the expense of the visits."

Westminster Reply and Previous Example

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

While the Finance Secretary pointed to past instances where the UK government reimbursed the expense of Trump’s 2018 visit to the nation, it is understood that trip followed a official 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 ridiculous, it was clearly a work visit … Particularly when you have the PM Keir Starmer 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."