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The British administration is being urged to "step up" and reimburse the £24.5 million cost incurred during recent trips by Donald Trump and JD Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a top Scottish minister.

Significant Provisional Costs Disclosed

Preliminary costs totalling nearly £24.5m for the pair of official trips have been published by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee described the Westminster's unwillingness to offer financial support as "absurd," stating that both visits were obviously work-related, noting that the US president held meetings with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his July visit in the northern nation.

Details of the Visits and Related Security Expenses

The former president visited his golfing resorts at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a week-long trip in July, while US vice-president Vance spent approximately four days in Ayrshire in August.

In a written communication to the Treasury minister Chief Secretary Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison stated that the trips placed "substantial strains and costs on Scottish public services, particularly Police Scotland."

The Scottish government calculates that the estimated expense for policing the presidential visit by itself was £21m, which involved peak daily deployments of more than 4,000 officers, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3 million.

Large-Scale Security Mission

This complex security mission was the largest in Scotland since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and involved regional police, national divisions, volunteer officers and officers from across the UK for specialist support.

Robison wrote: "Following your choice not to offer financial support to the Scottish government for costs accrued in relation to the trip of President Donald Trump to the nation in summer 2025 and the following visit of VP JD Vance, I am contacting you to ask that you reconsider this stance and offer full reimbursement for the expense of the trips."

Westminster Reply and Previous Example

The UK government stated that the trips were private and "not official UK government business." A spokesperson commented: "The Scottish government are responsible for policing costs in Scotland as per agreed devolved funding arrangements."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to previous precedent where the British administration covered the cost of Trump’s 2018 visit to Scotland, it is understood that visit followed a formal invitation from Westminster, in which instance it covered protection expenses under its funding guidelines.

"The UK government must take action and cover the cost. I think it’s ridiculous, it was clearly a official trip … Particularly when you have the prime minister Sir Keir meeting 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 just a personal vacation."