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The UK government is being urged to "take responsibility" and cover the £24.5 million expense incurred during the recent visits by former President Trump and JD Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a top Scottish minister.

Substantial Estimated Expenses Disclosed

Provisional costs amounting to almost £24.5m for the two official trips have been published by the administration in Edinburgh.

Public Finance Minister McKee described the UK government's refusal to provide funding as "absurd," stating that both visits were obviously work-related, pointing out that the US president held discussions with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer during his July stay in Scotland.

Particulars of the Visits and Related Security Expenses

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

In a written communication to the Treasury minister Chief Secretary Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison stated that the trips placed "significant operational and financial burdens on Scottish public services, especially the Scottish police force."

The Edinburgh administration estimates that the estimated expense for policing the presidential visit by itself was £21m, which involved peak daily deployments of over four thousand police, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3 million.

Complex Policing Operation

This complex security mission was the largest in Scotland since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and included local officers, specialist units, special constables and officers from across the UK for expert assistance.

Robison stated: "After your choice not to offer financial support to Scotland for expenses accrued in relation to the trip of President Donald Trump to Scotland in July 2025 and the following trip of VP JD Vance, I am contacting you to request that you review this stance and offer full reimbursement for the cost of the trips."

Westminster Reply and Previous Example

The UK government stated that the trips were personal and "not official UK government business." A spokesperson added: "The Scottish government must cover policing costs in Scotland as per established devolved funding arrangements."

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

"The UK government needs to step up and cover the cost. I think it’s ridiculous, it was obviously a official trip … Particularly when you have the prime minister Keir Starmer spending time with the president, having press conferences with them, conducting global diplomacy with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was just a personal vacation."