🔗 Share this article

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

Significant Provisional Costs Disclosed

Preliminary expenses totalling nearly £24.5m for the two official trips have been published by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee described the UK government's refusal to provide funding as "absurd," arguing that both trips were obviously official, noting that the US president held meetings with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and British PM Keir Starmer during his summer visit in the northern nation.

Details of the Trips and Associated Security Expenses

Donald Trump toured his golfing resorts at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie over a week-long period in the summer, while American VP JD Vance spent around four days in the Ayrshire region in late summer.

In a formal letter to the Treasury’s chief secretary Chief Secretary Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison wrote that the visits placed "substantial operational and financial burdens on Scottish public services, especially Police Scotland."

The Scottish government calculates that the provisional cost for securing the president's trip by itself was £21 million, which reflected peak daily deployments of over four thousand police, while expenses for the VP's visit were approximately £3 million.

Complex Security Mission

This complex policing operation was the biggest in Scotland since the passing of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and included regional police, national divisions, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for specialist support.

The Finance Secretary wrote: "After your decision not to provide funding to the Scottish government for expenses accrued in relation to the visit of Donald Trump to Scotland in July 2025 and the subsequent visit of Vice-President Vance, I am contacting you to ask that you reconsider this decision and provide complete repayment for the cost of the visits."

UK Government Reply and Previous Example

The British administration stated that the trips were personal and "not part of official government duties." A spokesperson commented: "Holyrood must cover policing costs in Scotland as per established devolved funding arrangements."

While Robison referenced previous precedent where the UK government reimbursed the expense of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is believed that trip followed a formal UK government invitation, in which case it covered protection expenses under its funding guidelines.

"Westminster must take action and cover the cost. I think it’s ridiculous, it was clearly a work visit … Especially when you have the PM Sir Keir spending time with the president, having press conferences with him, conducting international business with them, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was merely a private holiday trip."