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

Significant Estimated Expenses Disclosed

Provisional expenses totalling nearly £24.5 million for the pair of working visits have been made public by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee labeled the UK government's refusal to offer financial support as "absurd," stating that both trips were obviously work-related, noting that the American leader held meetings with European Union chief the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Keir Starmer during his summer stay in Scotland.

Details of the Trips and Related Security Expenses

Donald Trump toured his golf courses at Turnberry and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a week-long period in the summer, while American VP JD Vance spent approximately a long weekend in the Ayrshire region in August.

In a formal letter to the Treasury minister Chief Secretary Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary stated that the trips placed "substantial operational and financial burdens on public services in Scotland, especially Police Scotland."

The Edinburgh administration calculates that the estimated expense for policing the presidential visit by itself was £21 million, which involved peak daily deployments of over four thousand police, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were about £3m.

Complex Policing Operation

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

The Finance Secretary wrote: "Following your decision not to offer financial support to Scotland for expenses accrued in relation to the visit of Donald Trump to the nation in July 2025 and the following visit of Vice-President JD Vance, I am contacting you to request that you reconsider this decision and offer full reimbursement for the expense of the visits."

Westminster Response and Past Precedent

The British administration maintained that the visits were personal and "not part of official government duties." A representative added: "The Scottish government must cover policing costs in Scotland as per agreed devolved funding arrangements."

While the Finance Secretary referenced past instances where the British administration covered the expense of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is believed that trip came after a formal invitation from Westminster, in which instance it included protection expenses under its funding guidelines.

"Westminster must take action and pay. I think it’s ridiculous, it was obviously a official trip … Particularly when you have the prime minister Keir Starmer spending time with Donald Trump, holding joint briefings with them, engaging in international business with him, its really hard to believe to say this was just a private holiday trip."