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The British administration is being urged to "take responsibility" and reimburse the £24.5m cost incurred during recent trips by Donald Trump and Vice-President Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a top Scottish minister.

Substantial Provisional Costs Revealed

Preliminary expenses amounting to nearly £24.5 million for the two official trips have been published by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee labeled the Westminster's unwillingness to provide funding as "absurd," arguing that both trips were clearly work-related, pointing out that the US president held discussions with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Sir Keir Starmer during his summer visit in Scotland.

Details of the Visits and Related Policing Costs

The former president visited his golf courses at Turnberry and Menie over a five-day period in the summer, while US vice-president JD Vance spent around a long weekend in the Ayrshire region in late summer.

In a written communication to the Treasury’s chief secretary Chief Secretary Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary wrote that the visits placed "significant strains and costs on Scottish public services, especially Police Scotland."

The Edinburgh administration calculates that the provisional cost for policing the president's trip alone was £21 million, which involved maximum daily assignments of over four thousand police, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were about £3m.

Large-Scale Security Mission

This complex policing operation was the biggest in Scotland since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and included local officers, specialist units, special constables and wider UK colleagues for expert assistance.

Robison wrote: "After your choice not to provide funding to Scotland for expenses incurred in connection with the trip of Donald Trump to Scotland in July 2025 and the subsequent trip of VP JD Vance, I am contacting you to ask that you review this stance and offer full reimbursement for the expense of the trips."

UK Government Reply and Previous Example

The UK government maintained that the visits were personal and "not official UK government business." A representative added: "The Scottish government must cover policing costs in the country as per established devolved funding arrangements."

While Robison pointed to previous precedent where the UK government covered the cost of the president's 2018 trip to the nation, it is understood that trip followed a official invitation from Westminster, in which instance it covered security costs under its funding guidelines.

"The UK government must take action and pay. I think it’s ridiculous, it was clearly a official trip … Particularly when you have the prime minister Sir Keir meeting with the president, holding joint briefings with them, conducting international business with them, its really hard to believe to say this was merely a personal vacation."