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The UK government is being called upon to "step up" and cover the £24.5 million expense incurred during the recent visits by Donald Trump and Vice-President Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a top Holyrood official.

Substantial Provisional Costs Revealed

Provisional costs amounting to nearly £24.5 million for the two working visits have been made public by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee described the Westminster's refusal to provide funding as "ridiculous," arguing that both trips 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 summer stay in the northern nation.

Particulars of the Visits and Related Security Expenses

The former president toured his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a week-long period in July, while American VP JD Vance spent around a long weekend in Ayrshire in August.

In a written communication to the Treasury’s chief secretary Chief Secretary Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary stated that the visits placed "significant operational and financial burdens on public services in Scotland, especially the Scottish police force."

The Scottish government estimates that the estimated expense for securing the presidential visit alone was £21 million, which involved maximum daily assignments of over four thousand police, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3m.

Large-Scale Security Mission

This extensive policing operation was the largest in Scotland since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and involved regional police, specialist units, volunteer officers and officers from across the UK for expert assistance.

The Finance Secretary stated: "After your decision not to provide funding to Scotland for costs incurred in relation to the trip of Donald Trump to Scotland in July 2025 and the following visit of Vice-President JD Vance, I am contacting you to request that you review this stance and offer full reimbursement for the expense of the trips."

UK Government Reply and Previous Example

The UK government maintained that the trips were personal and "not part of official government duties." A spokesperson added: "The Scottish government must cover security expenses in the country as per agreed devolved funding arrangements."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to past instances where the British administration covered the expense of the president's 2018 trip to the nation, it is believed that visit came after a formal invitation from Westminster, in which instance it included security costs under its statement of funding policy.

"The UK government needs to step up and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was obviously a work visit … Particularly when you have the prime minister Keir Starmer spending time with the president, holding joint briefings with him, conducting international business with him, its really hard to believe to say this was just a personal vacation."