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The British administration is being urged to "step up" and cover the £24.5m expense incurred during the recent visits by Donald Trump and JD Vance to Scotland, according to a senior Scottish minister.

Substantial Estimated Expenses Revealed

Provisional expenses amounting to almost £24.5 million for the pair of official trips have been published by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee described the Westminster's unwillingness to offer financial support as "ridiculous," arguing that both visits were clearly work-related, noting that the US president held discussions with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Keir Starmer during his summer visit in Scotland.

Details of the Trips and Associated Policing Costs

The former president toured his golfing resorts at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie over a week-long trip in the summer, while US vice-president Vance spent approximately a long weekend in Ayrshire in August.

In a formal letter to the Treasury minister James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison stated that the visits placed "significant operational and financial burdens on Scottish public services, 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 about £3 million.

Large-Scale Policing Operation

This extensive policing operation was the biggest in the country since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and involved regional police, specialist units, special constables and wider UK colleagues for expert assistance.

The Finance Secretary stated: "After your decision not to provide funding to the Scottish government for costs incurred in connection with the visit of President Donald Trump to Scotland in July 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 cost of the visits."

Westminster Response and Previous Example

The British administration stated that the trips were private and "not official UK government business." A spokesperson added: "Holyrood must cover policing costs in the country as per established funding agreements for devolved matters."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to past instances where the UK government covered the cost of Trump’s 2018 visit to Scotland, it is believed that trip followed a formal invitation from Westminster, in which instance it covered protection expenses under its funding guidelines.

"Westminster needs to step up and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was obviously a work visit … Especially when you have the prime minister Sir Keir meeting with Donald Trump, holding joint briefings with them, engaging in global diplomacy with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was merely a personal vacation."