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The British administration is being called upon to "take responsibility" and cover the £24.5 million cost incurred during recent visits by former President Trump and Vice-President Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a senior Holyrood official.

Substantial Provisional Costs Revealed

Preliminary costs amounting to nearly £24.5m for the two working visits have been made public by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee labeled the Westminster's refusal to provide funding as "ridiculous," 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 Sir Keir Starmer during his summer stay in Scotland.

Particulars of the Visits and Related Policing Costs

Donald Trump toured his golf courses at Turnberry and Menie over a week-long period in the summer, while US vice-president JD Vance spent approximately a long weekend in Ayrshire in late summer.

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

The Edinburgh administration calculates that the provisional cost for securing the presidential visit alone was £21m, which reflected peak daily deployments of more than 4,000 officers, while costs for the VP's visit were approximately £3 million.

Large-Scale Security Mission

This complex policing operation was the biggest in the country since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and involved local officers, national divisions, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for specialist support.

The Finance Secretary wrote: "Following your decision not to provide funding to Scotland for costs accrued in relation to the trip of Donald Trump to Scotland in summer 2025 and the subsequent visit of Vice-President JD Vance, I am contacting you to ask that you review this stance and offer full reimbursement for the expense of the trips."

Westminster Reply and Past Precedent

The British administration maintained that the trips were personal and "not part of official government duties." A representative commented: "Holyrood are responsible for security expenses in the country as per agreed funding agreements for devolved matters."

While Robison pointed to previous precedent where the UK government reimbursed the expense of the president's 2018 trip to the nation, it is understood that trip came after a formal UK government invitation, in which instance it covered protection expenses under its statement of funding policy.

"The UK government must take action and cover the cost. I think it’s ridiculous, it was clearly a work visit … Especially when you have the PM Sir Keir meeting with the president, having press conferences with them, conducting international business with him, its really hard to believe to say this was merely a personal vacation."