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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 JD Vance to Scotland, according to a senior Scottish minister.

Substantial Provisional Costs Revealed

Preliminary expenses totalling almost £24.5 million for the pair of working visits have been published by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee labeled the UK government's refusal to offer financial support as "absurd," arguing that both trips were obviously work-related, noting that the US president held discussions with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Keir Starmer during his summer stay in the northern nation.

Details of the Visits and Related Policing Costs

The former president visited his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a five-day trip in July, while US vice-president JD Vance spent around four days in Ayrshire in August.

In a formal letter to the Treasury minister Chief Secretary Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary stated that the trips placed "substantial strains and costs on Scottish public services, particularly the Scottish police force."

The Edinburgh administration estimates that the estimated expense for securing the president's trip by itself was £21m, which involved maximum daily assignments of more than four thousand police, while costs for the VP's visit were approximately £3m.

Large-Scale Policing Operation

This extensive security mission was the biggest in the country since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and included regional police, specialist units, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for specialist support.

The Finance Secretary wrote: "Following your choice not to provide funding to the Scottish government for costs 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 writing you to ask that you review this decision and offer complete repayment for the expense of the visits."

Westminster Reply and Previous Example

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

While the Finance Secretary pointed to previous precedent where the UK government covered the expense of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is understood that visit came after a formal UK government invitation, in which instance it included security costs under its statement of funding policy.

"The UK government needs to step up and cover the cost. I think it’s unreasonable, it was obviously a official trip … Particularly when you have the PM Keir Starmer spending time with the president, having press conferences with him, conducting global diplomacy with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was merely a personal vacation."