🔗 Share this article

The UK government is being called upon to "take responsibility" and cover the £24.5 million cost incurred during the recent trips by Donald Trump and JD Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a senior Holyrood official.

Significant Estimated Expenses Revealed

Provisional expenses totalling nearly £24.5 million for the pair of official trips have been made public by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee labeled the Westminster's refusal to offer financial support as "absurd," arguing that both visits were obviously work-related, pointing out that the US president held discussions with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his July visit in the northern nation.

Details of the Visits and Associated Policing Costs

The former president visited his golf courses at Turnberry and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a week-long trip in July, while American VP JD Vance spent approximately a long weekend in the Ayrshire region in August.

In a formal letter to the Treasury’s chief secretary James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison wrote that the visits placed "significant strains and costs on Scottish public services, particularly Police Scotland."

The Edinburgh administration calculates that the provisional cost for securing the presidential visit alone was £21m, which involved peak daily deployments of more than 4,000 officers, 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 passing of the late Queen in 2022, and included local officers, national divisions, special constables and wider UK colleagues for specialist support.

Robison stated: "After your decision not to provide funding to Scotland for expenses accrued in connection with the trip of Donald Trump to Scotland in July 2025 and the subsequent trip of VP Vance, I am writing you to ask that you review this decision and provide complete repayment for the expense of the trips."

UK Government Reply and Past Precedent

The UK government maintained that the visits were private and "not part of official government duties." A spokesperson added: "The Scottish government must cover security expenses in Scotland as per established funding agreements for devolved matters."

While the Finance Secretary referenced past instances where the UK government reimbursed the cost of Trump’s 2018 visit to the nation, it is believed that visit followed a formal UK government invitation, in which case it covered protection expenses under its statement of funding policy.

"Westminster needs to step up and pay. I think it’s ridiculous, it was obviously a work visit … Especially when you have the prime minister Sir Keir meeting with the president, having press conferences with him, conducting global diplomacy with him, its really hard to believe to say this was just a personal vacation."