🔗 Share this article

The British administration is being called upon to "step up" and reimburse the £24.5 million expense incurred during recent visits by former President Trump and JD Vance to Scotland, according to a senior Scottish minister.

Significant Estimated Expenses Revealed

Preliminary expenses amounting to almost £24.5m for the pair of working visits have been made public by the administration in Edinburgh.

Public Finance Minister McKee labeled the Westminster's unwillingness to provide funding as "ridiculous," stating that both visits were obviously official, pointing out that the American leader held discussions with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer during his summer visit in the northern nation.

Particulars of the Trips and Associated Policing Costs

Donald Trump visited his golfing resorts at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a five-day period in July, while American VP Vance spent approximately four days in the Ayrshire region in late summer.

In a formal letter to the Treasury minister James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison stated that the trips placed "substantial strains and costs on public services in Scotland, particularly the Scottish police force."

The Scottish government estimates that the estimated expense for securing the president's trip by itself was £21 million, which involved maximum daily assignments of over four thousand police, while costs for the VP's visit were approximately £3 million.

Large-Scale Policing Operation

This extensive policing operation was the largest in Scotland since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and included local officers, national divisions, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for expert assistance.

The Finance Secretary wrote: "Following your choice not to offer financial support to the Scottish government for expenses incurred in connection with the visit of President Donald Trump to the nation in July 2025 and the subsequent trip of VP Vance, I am contacting you to request that you reconsider this stance and provide full reimbursement for the expense of the visits."

UK Government Reply and Previous Example

The UK government maintained that the visits were personal and "not part of official government duties." A representative added: "Holyrood are responsible for policing costs in the country as per established devolved funding arrangements."

While Robison referenced previous precedent where the British administration covered the cost of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is understood that trip came after a formal invitation from Westminster, in which instance it included security costs under its funding guidelines.

"The UK government needs to step up and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was obviously a official trip … Particularly when you have the PM Keir Starmer spending time with the president, having press conferences with them, engaging in global diplomacy with them, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was merely a private holiday trip."