🔗 Share this article

The British administration is being urged to "step up" and cover the £24.5m cost incurred during the recent trips by Donald Trump and Vice-President Vance to Scotland, according to a senior Scottish minister.

Substantial Provisional Costs Revealed

Preliminary costs totalling nearly £24.5m for the pair of working visits have been made public by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee labeled the UK government's unwillingness to provide funding as "ridiculous," stating that both visits were clearly official, noting that the US president held discussions with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen and British PM Sir Keir Starmer during his July stay in Scotland.

Particulars of the Visits and Associated Security Expenses

The former president visited his golf courses at Turnberry and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a five-day trip in July, while US vice-president JD Vance spent approximately a long weekend in Ayrshire in August.

In a formal letter to the Treasury’s chief secretary Chief Secretary Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary stated that the visits placed "substantial strains and costs on Scottish public services, particularly Police Scotland."

The Scottish government estimates that the estimated expense for policing the presidential visit alone was £21 million, which involved maximum daily assignments of over four thousand police, while costs for the VP's visit were approximately £3m.

Large-Scale Security Mission

This extensive policing operation was the biggest in the country since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and included local officers, national divisions, special constables and wider UK colleagues for expert assistance.

Robison wrote: "Following your decision not to provide funding to the Scottish government for expenses accrued in relation to the trip of Donald Trump to the nation in summer 2025 and the following visit of Vice-President Vance, I am writing you to request that you reconsider this stance and provide complete repayment for the expense of the visits."

Westminster Reply and Past Precedent

The UK government maintained that the trips were private and "not official UK government business." A spokesperson added: "The Scottish government are responsible for policing costs in the country as per established devolved funding arrangements."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to past instances where the British administration covered the expense of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is believed that visit came after a official UK government invitation, in which instance it included security costs under its funding guidelines.

"The UK government must take action and cover the cost. I think it’s ridiculous, it was clearly a work visit … Particularly when you have the prime minister Sir Keir meeting with the president, holding joint briefings with him, conducting international business with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was just a personal vacation."