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The UK government is being urged to "step up" and reimburse the £24.5 million cost incurred during the recent visits by former President Trump and Vice-President Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a top Holyrood official.

Substantial Provisional Costs Revealed

Provisional expenses totalling almost £24.5m for the two official trips have been made public by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee described the UK government's refusal to provide funding as "ridiculous," stating that both trips were clearly official, noting that the American leader held discussions with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen and UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer during his summer visit in the northern nation.

Particulars of the Trips and Associated Policing Costs

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

In a written communication to the Treasury’s chief secretary James Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary wrote that the trips placed "significant operational and financial burdens on Scottish public services, especially Police Scotland."

The Scottish government calculates that the provisional cost for policing the president's trip by itself was £21m, which involved peak daily deployments of over 4,000 officers, while costs for the VP's visit were approximately £3m.

Large-Scale Policing Operation

This extensive policing operation was the largest in the country since the passing of the late Queen in 2022, and included local officers, specialist units, special constables and wider UK colleagues for expert assistance.

Robison wrote: "After your decision not to provide funding to Scotland for expenses accrued in relation to the visit of Donald Trump to the nation in July 2025 and the subsequent trip of Vice-President JD Vance, I am writing you to request that you reconsider this stance and provide complete repayment for the cost of the visits."

Westminster Response and Previous Example

The British administration maintained that the visits were private and "not official UK government business." A spokesperson commented: "Holyrood are responsible for security expenses in Scotland as per agreed funding agreements for devolved matters."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to previous precedent where the British administration covered the cost of the president's 2018 trip to the nation, it is understood that visit followed a formal invitation from Westminster, in which case it covered security costs under its funding guidelines.

"Westminster must take action and cover the cost. I think it’s unreasonable, it was obviously a official trip … Particularly when you have the prime minister Keir Starmer spending time with Donald Trump, holding joint briefings with them, conducting global diplomacy with them, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was merely a private holiday trip."