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The UK government is being urged to "take responsibility" and cover the £24.5 million cost incurred during the recent visits by former President Trump and Vice-President Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a top Scottish minister.

Significant Estimated Expenses Disclosed

Provisional expenses amounting to almost £24.5 million for the pair of working visits have been published by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee labeled the UK government's unwillingness to provide funding as "ridiculous," stating that both visits were obviously work-related, pointing out that the US president held meetings with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen and British PM Sir Keir Starmer during his summer stay in the northern nation.

Details of the Trips and Associated Policing Costs

Donald Trump visited his golfing resorts at Turnberry and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a five-day period in July, while US vice-president JD Vance spent around four days in the Ayrshire region in late summer.

In a written communication to the Treasury’s chief secretary James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison wrote that the trips placed "substantial strains and costs on Scottish public services, especially the Scottish police force."

The Edinburgh administration estimates that the provisional cost for securing the president's trip alone was £21 million, which involved peak daily deployments of more than 4,000 officers, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3m.

Complex Security Mission

This complex security mission was the largest in the country since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and included regional police, specialist units, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for specialist support.

Robison wrote: "After your choice not to provide funding to Scotland for expenses accrued in relation to the visit of Donald Trump to Scotland in July 2025 and the following visit of Vice-President JD Vance, I am contacting you to ask that you reconsider this stance and provide complete repayment for the cost of the trips."

Westminster Response and Past Precedent

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

While Robison pointed to previous precedent where the UK government covered the expense of Trump’s 2018 visit to the nation, it is understood that visit followed a official invitation from Westminster, in which case it covered security costs under its statement of funding policy.

"The UK government must take action and cover the cost. I think it’s unreasonable, it was clearly a official trip … Particularly when you have the PM Keir Starmer meeting with the president, holding joint briefings with him, conducting global diplomacy with him, its really hard to believe to say this was merely a personal vacation."