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The UK government is being called upon to "take responsibility" and cover the £24.5m cost incurred during recent trips by former President Trump and JD Vance to Scotland, according to a top Scottish minister.

Substantial Provisional Costs Revealed

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

Ivan McKee labeled the UK government's unwillingness to provide funding as "ridiculous," arguing that both visits were obviously official, noting 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 Associated Policing Costs

Donald Trump toured his golfing resorts at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie over a five-day period in July, while US vice-president Vance spent approximately a long weekend in Ayrshire in August.

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

The Scottish government calculates that the provisional cost for policing the president's trip alone was £21m, which reflected peak daily deployments of more than 4,000 officers, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3m.

Complex Security Mission

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

The Finance Secretary wrote: "After your decision not to provide funding to Scotland for costs incurred in connection with the trip of President Donald Trump to Scotland in July 2025 and the subsequent visit of VP JD Vance, I am writing you to ask that you review this stance and provide full reimbursement for the expense of the trips."

UK Government Response and Past Precedent

The British administration stated that the trips were private and "not official UK government business." A representative commented: "The Scottish government must cover security expenses in Scotland as per established devolved funding arrangements."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to previous precedent where the UK government covered the cost of Trump’s 2018 visit to Scotland, it is understood that visit followed a official UK government invitation, in which instance it included security costs under its statement of funding policy.

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