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

Substantial Estimated Expenses Revealed

Provisional expenses totalling nearly £24.5m for the two official trips have been published by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee labeled the UK government's refusal to provide funding as "absurd," stating that both trips were clearly official, pointing out that the American leader held meetings with European Union chief the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Keir Starmer during his July visit in the northern nation.

Details of the Visits and Associated Security Expenses

The former president visited his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a week-long trip in July, while US vice-president Vance spent approximately four days in the Ayrshire region in August.

In a written communication to the Treasury minister Chief Secretary Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary wrote that the trips placed "significant operational and financial burdens on public services in Scotland, especially Police Scotland."

The Scottish government estimates that the provisional cost for policing the presidential visit alone was £21m, which reflected maximum daily assignments of over four thousand police, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were about £3m.

Complex Security Mission

This extensive security mission was the largest in the country since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and involved regional police, national divisions, special constables and officers from across the UK for specialist support.

The Finance Secretary stated: "Following your decision not to provide funding to Scotland for costs incurred in relation to the visit of President Donald Trump to the nation in July 2025 and the following trip of Vice-President JD Vance, I am writing you to request that you reconsider this decision and offer full reimbursement for the expense of the visits."

UK Government Response and Past Precedent

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

While the Finance Secretary pointed to previous precedent where the British administration reimbursed the expense of Trump’s 2018 visit to Scotland, it is believed that trip came after a formal invitation from Westminster, in which case it included protection expenses under its statement of funding policy.

"The UK government needs to step up and pay. I think it’s ridiculous, it was clearly a official trip … Especially when you have the PM Sir Keir meeting with Donald Trump, holding joint briefings with them, conducting international business with them, its really hard to believe to say this was merely a private holiday trip."