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The British administration is being called upon to "take responsibility" and cover the £24.5m cost incurred during the recent trips by Donald Trump and JD Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a senior Scottish minister.

Substantial Provisional Costs Disclosed

Provisional expenses totalling nearly £24.5m for the two working visits have been made public by the administration in Edinburgh.

Public Finance Minister McKee described the UK government's refusal to provide funding as "absurd," arguing that both trips were obviously official, pointing out that the US president held discussions with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his summer visit in the northern nation.

Details of the Visits and Associated Security Expenses

The former president visited his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a week-long period in the summer, while US vice-president Vance spent around a long weekend in Ayrshire in August.

In a formal letter to the Treasury’s chief secretary Chief Secretary Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison wrote that the visits placed "significant strains and costs on public services in Scotland, especially the Scottish police force."

The Edinburgh administration calculates that the estimated expense for securing the presidential visit alone was £21m, which reflected peak daily deployments of over four thousand police, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were about £3 million.

Large-Scale Policing Operation

This extensive security mission was the largest in the country since the death 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: "Following your decision not to offer financial support to Scotland for costs accrued in relation to the trip of Donald Trump to the nation in summer 2025 and the subsequent trip of VP JD Vance, I am writing you to request that you reconsider this decision and offer full reimbursement for the cost of the visits."

UK Government Response and Previous Example

The British administration stated that the visits were personal and "not official UK government business." A representative commented: "The Scottish government must cover security expenses in Scotland as per agreed devolved funding arrangements."

While Robison pointed to past instances where the British administration reimbursed the expense of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is believed that visit came after a formal invitation from Westminster, in which instance it included protection expenses under its statement of funding policy.

"The UK government must take action and cover the cost. I think it’s ridiculous, it was obviously a work visit … Especially when you have the prime minister Keir Starmer meeting with Donald Trump, having press conferences with him, engaging in international business with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was merely a private holiday trip."