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The UK government is being called upon to "step up" and reimburse the £24.5m cost incurred during recent trips by Donald Trump and JD Vance to Scotland, according to a senior Holyrood official.

Significant Provisional Costs Disclosed

Preliminary costs totalling nearly £24.5 million for the pair of official trips have been published by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee described the UK government's unwillingness to provide funding as "absurd," arguing that both trips were obviously work-related, pointing out that the American leader held discussions with European Union chief the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Keir Starmer during his summer stay in Scotland.

Particulars of the Visits and Associated Security Expenses

The former president toured his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie over a five-day period in the summer, while American VP JD Vance spent around a long weekend in Ayrshire in late summer.

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

The Edinburgh administration estimates that the provisional cost for policing the president's trip alone was £21 million, which reflected peak daily deployments of over 4,000 officers, while costs for the VP's visit were about £3 million.

Large-Scale Policing Operation

This complex security mission was the largest in Scotland since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and involved regional police, national divisions, volunteer officers and officers from across the UK for specialist support.

The Finance Secretary wrote: "Following your decision not to offer financial support to Scotland for costs incurred in relation to the trip of Donald Trump to the nation in summer 2025 and the subsequent visit of VP JD Vance, I am writing you to ask that you review this stance and provide full reimbursement for the expense of the visits."

UK Government Response and Past Precedent

The British administration maintained that the visits were personal and "not official UK government business." A representative commented: "The Scottish government are responsible for policing costs in Scotland as per established funding agreements for devolved matters."

While Robison pointed to previous precedent where the British administration reimbursed the expense of the president's 2018 trip to the nation, it is understood that trip followed a official UK government invitation, in which case it covered security costs under its statement of funding policy.

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