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

Significant Provisional Costs Revealed

Preliminary costs amounting to nearly £24.5m for the pair of working visits have been published by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee labeled the UK government's unwillingness to offer financial support as "absurd," stating that both visits were obviously work-related, pointing out that the American leader held meetings with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Sir Keir Starmer during his July stay in the northern nation.

Particulars of the Visits and Related Policing Costs

Donald Trump toured his golfing resorts at Turnberry and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a week-long trip in the summer, while American VP Vance spent around a long weekend in Ayrshire in August.

In a formal letter to the Treasury’s chief secretary James Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary wrote that the trips placed "significant operational and financial burdens on Scottish public services, particularly Police Scotland."

The Scottish government calculates that the provisional cost for policing the president's trip by itself was £21m, which involved peak daily deployments of more than 4,000 officers, while expenses for the VP's visit were about £3 million.

Complex Policing Operation

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

The Finance Secretary stated: "After your choice not to offer financial support to the Scottish government for expenses incurred in relation to the trip of President Donald Trump to the nation in summer 2025 and the following visit of Vice-President 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 Past Precedent

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

While the Finance Secretary pointed to previous precedent where the British administration reimbursed the cost of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is understood that visit came after a official UK government invitation, in which instance it covered protection expenses under its statement of funding policy.

"The UK government must take action and cover the cost. I think it’s ridiculous, it was clearly a official trip … Especially when you have the PM Keir Starmer spending time with Donald Trump, holding joint briefings with them, engaging in international business with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was merely a private holiday trip."