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The British administration is being urged to "step up" and cover the £24.5 million cost incurred during the recent trips by former President Trump and Vice-President Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a senior Holyrood official.

Significant Estimated Expenses Disclosed

Provisional costs totalling almost £24.5m for the pair of official trips have been made public by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee labeled the Westminster's refusal to provide funding as "absurd," stating that both visits were obviously work-related, noting that the US president held discussions with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his summer visit in Scotland.

Details of the Visits and Related Security Expenses

The former president visited his golfing resorts at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie over a five-day period in July, while US vice-president JD Vance spent approximately four days in Ayrshire in late summer.

In a written communication to the Treasury’s chief secretary Chief Secretary Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary stated that the visits placed "substantial strains and costs on public services in Scotland, particularly Police Scotland."

The Scottish government estimates that the provisional cost for policing the presidential visit alone was £21m, which involved peak daily deployments of more than 4,000 officers, while expenses for the VP's visit were approximately £3 million.

Complex Security Mission

This complex policing operation was the biggest in Scotland since the passing of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and involved regional police, national divisions, special constables and officers from across the UK for expert assistance.

Robison stated: "After your decision not to provide funding to Scotland for expenses accrued in connection with the visit of Donald Trump to Scotland in July 2025 and the subsequent visit of VP JD Vance, I am contacting you to ask that you review this decision and provide full reimbursement for the cost of the visits."

Westminster Response and Past Precedent

The British administration maintained that the visits were private and "not part of official government duties." A representative commented: "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 UK government covered the expense of Trump’s 2018 visit to the nation, it is believed that visit came after a official UK government invitation, in which case 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 official trip … Particularly when you have the PM Keir Starmer spending time with the president, holding joint briefings with him, engaging in international business with him, its really hard to believe to say this was just a private holiday trip."