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

Substantial Provisional Costs Revealed

Provisional expenses totalling almost £24.5m for the two working visits have been published by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee described the Westminster's refusal to provide funding as "absurd," stating that both trips were obviously work-related, noting that the US president held discussions with European Union chief the EU's von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his July stay in Scotland.

Details of the Trips and Related Security Expenses

Donald Trump toured his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a five-day period in the summer, while American VP JD Vance spent approximately four days in the Ayrshire region in late summer.

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

The Scottish government estimates that the provisional cost for securing the presidential visit by itself was £21m, which reflected peak daily deployments of over four thousand police, while costs for the VP's visit were approximately £3m.

Complex Security Mission

This extensive security mission was the biggest in the country since the passing of the late Queen in 2022, and included local officers, national divisions, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for specialist support.

Robison wrote: "Following your choice not to provide funding to Scotland for costs accrued in relation to the visit of President Donald Trump to Scotland in July 2025 and the subsequent trip of Vice-President Vance, I am contacting you to request that you review this decision and provide full reimbursement for the cost of the visits."

Westminster Reply and Past Precedent

The UK government maintained that the trips were private and "not official UK government business." A spokesperson added: "The Scottish government are responsible for policing costs in Scotland as per agreed devolved funding arrangements."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to previous precedent where the British administration reimbursed the expense of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is believed that trip followed a formal UK government invitation, in which case it included protection expenses under its statement of funding policy.

"Westminster must take action and pay. I think it’s ridiculous, it was clearly a official trip … Particularly when you have the PM Sir Keir spending time with the president, having press conferences with them, conducting international business with them, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was merely a personal vacation."