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The UK government is being called upon to "take responsibility" and reimburse the £24.5m expense incurred during the recent trips by former President Trump and JD Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a senior Scottish minister.

Significant Estimated Expenses Revealed

Preliminary expenses totalling almost £24.5 million for the pair of working visits have been made public by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee described the Westminster's refusal to provide funding as "absurd," stating that both visits were clearly work-related, pointing out that the US president held discussions with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen and UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer during his summer visit in the northern nation.

Particulars of the Visits and Related Policing Costs

Donald Trump visited his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a five-day trip in the summer, while American VP JD Vance spent around a long weekend in the Ayrshire region in August.

In a written communication to the Treasury minister James Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary wrote that the visits placed "significant operational and financial burdens on Scottish public services, especially the Scottish police force."

The Scottish government calculates that the estimated expense for securing the president's trip by itself was £21m, which reflected maximum daily assignments of more than four thousand police, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were about £3 million.

Complex Security Mission

This complex security mission was the biggest in Scotland since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and included regional police, national divisions, special constables and officers from across the UK for specialist support.

The Finance Secretary stated: "Following your choice not to offer financial support to the Scottish government for costs accrued in connection with the visit of President Donald Trump to the nation in summer 2025 and the following trip of VP JD Vance, I am contacting you to ask that you reconsider this stance and offer full reimbursement for the cost of the visits."

UK Government Response and Previous Example

The UK government stated that the visits were personal and "not part of official government duties." A representative added: "The Scottish government must cover security expenses in the country as per established devolved funding arrangements."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to previous precedent where the UK government covered the cost of Trump’s 2018 visit to Scotland, it is understood that visit followed a formal UK government invitation, in which case it covered protection expenses under its statement of funding policy.

"Westminster needs to step up and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was clearly a work visit … Particularly when you have the prime minister Keir Starmer spending time with Donald Trump, having press conferences with them, engaging in global diplomacy with him, its really hard to believe to say this was just a personal vacation."