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The UK government is being urged to "take responsibility" and reimburse the £24.5 million expense incurred during recent trips by former President Trump and Vice-President Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a top Holyrood official.

Significant Provisional Costs Revealed

Provisional expenses amounting to almost £24.5m for the two working visits have been made public by the Scottish government.

Public Finance Minister McKee labeled the Westminster's unwillingness to provide funding as "ridiculous," stating that both trips were obviously work-related, noting that the US president held meetings with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Keir Starmer during his July stay in Scotland.

Details of the Visits and Related Policing Costs

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

In a formal letter to the Treasury minister James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison wrote that the visits placed "substantial operational and financial burdens on Scottish public services, especially the Scottish police force."

The Scottish government calculates that the estimated expense for securing the presidential visit alone was £21m, which reflected maximum daily assignments of more than four thousand police, while expenses for the VP's visit were approximately £3m.

Large-Scale Policing Operation

This complex security mission was the biggest in the country since the passing of the late Queen in 2022, and involved regional police, national divisions, volunteer officers and officers from across the UK for specialist support.

Robison wrote: "Following your choice not to offer financial support to the Scottish government for costs incurred in relation to the trip of President Donald Trump to the nation in July 2025 and the subsequent visit of Vice-President JD Vance, I am writing you to ask that you review this stance and provide complete repayment for the cost of the trips."

Westminster Reply and Past Precedent

The UK government maintained that the trips were private and "not official UK government business." A spokesperson added: "Holyrood must cover security expenses in the country as per established funding agreements for devolved matters."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to previous precedent where the British administration covered the cost of the president's 2018 trip to the nation, it is believed that trip came after a official invitation from Westminster, in which instance it covered protection expenses under its statement of funding policy.

"Westminster must take action and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was obviously a official trip … Especially when you have the prime minister Keir Starmer spending time with Donald Trump, holding joint briefings with him, conducting global diplomacy with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was merely a private holiday trip."