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The British administration is being called upon to "step up" and reimburse the £24.5 million expense incurred during the recent trips by Donald Trump and Vice-President Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a senior Scottish minister.

Substantial Estimated Expenses Revealed

Preliminary expenses amounting to almost £24.5 million for the two official trips have been made public by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee described the UK government's refusal to provide funding as "ridiculous," stating that both visits were obviously official, noting that the American leader held discussions with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his July stay in Scotland.

Details of the Visits and Related Policing Costs

Donald Trump toured his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie over a five-day trip in July, while American VP JD Vance spent approximately a long weekend in Ayrshire in late summer.

In a formal letter to the Treasury minister Chief Secretary Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison stated that the trips placed "substantial operational and financial burdens on Scottish public services, particularly Police Scotland."

The Scottish government calculates that the provisional cost for policing the presidential visit by itself was £21 million, which reflected peak daily deployments of over 4,000 officers, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were about £3 million.

Large-Scale Security Mission

This extensive security mission was the largest in the country since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and involved local officers, specialist units, special constables and officers from across the UK for expert assistance.

The Finance Secretary wrote: "After your decision not to offer financial support to Scotland for costs incurred in connection with the trip of President Donald Trump to the nation in summer 2025 and the following visit of VP JD Vance, I am writing you to request that you review this decision and offer complete repayment for the cost of the visits."

Westminster Reply and Previous Example

The British administration stated that the trips were private and "not part of official government duties." A spokesperson 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 British administration reimbursed the cost of the president's 2018 trip to the nation, it is believed that trip followed a formal invitation from Westminster, in which instance it included security costs under its funding guidelines.

"The UK government must take action and cover the cost. I think it’s unreasonable, it was clearly a official trip … Especially when you have the PM Keir Starmer spending time with Donald Trump, having press conferences with them, engaging in international business with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was merely a private holiday trip."