🔗 Share this article

The British administration is being urged to "step up" and cover the £24.5 million cost incurred during the recent trips by Donald Trump and JD Vance to Scotland, according to a top Holyrood official.

Significant Estimated Expenses Revealed

Preliminary expenses amounting to almost £24.5m for the two working visits have been published by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee labeled the UK government's unwillingness to provide funding as "ridiculous," arguing that both visits were obviously work-related, noting that the American leader held discussions with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and British PM Keir Starmer during his July visit in Scotland.

Details of the Visits and Related Security Expenses

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

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 public services in Scotland, especially Police Scotland."

The Scottish government calculates that the estimated expense for policing the presidential visit alone was £21 million, which involved maximum daily assignments of over 4,000 officers, while expenses for the VP's visit were approximately £3m.

Complex Policing Operation

This complex security mission was the largest in the country since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and included local officers, national divisions, special constables and wider UK colleagues for expert assistance.

Robison wrote: "Following your choice not to offer financial support to the Scottish government for expenses accrued in relation to the trip of Donald Trump to Scotland in summer 2025 and the subsequent trip of VP JD Vance, I am writing you to request that you reconsider this stance and offer complete repayment for the expense of the trips."

Westminster Reply and Previous Example

The British administration maintained that the trips were private and "not part of official government duties." A representative added: "The Scottish government must cover policing costs in the country as per established funding agreements for devolved matters."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to previous precedent where the UK government covered the expense of Trump’s 2018 visit to the nation, it is believed that visit came after a official invitation from Westminster, in which case it included protection expenses under its funding guidelines.

"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 meeting with Donald Trump, holding joint briefings with them, engaging in global diplomacy with them, its really hard to believe to say this was merely a personal vacation."