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The UK government is being called upon to "step up" and reimburse the £24.5m expense incurred during recent visits by Donald Trump and JD Vance to Scotland, according to a top Scottish minister.

Substantial Provisional Costs Disclosed

Preliminary costs amounting to nearly £24.5 million for the two working visits have been published by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee described the Westminster's refusal to provide funding as "ridiculous," arguing that both visits were clearly work-related, noting that the US president held meetings with European Union chief the EU's von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his July stay in the northern nation.

Details of the Trips and Related Security Expenses

Donald Trump visited his golfing resorts at Turnberry and Menie over a five-day period in the summer, while American VP Vance spent around a long weekend in the Ayrshire region in late summer.

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

The Edinburgh administration calculates that the provisional cost for securing the presidential visit by itself was £21 million, which involved maximum daily assignments of over four thousand police, while expenses for the VP's visit were about £3 million.

Large-Scale Security Mission

This complex security mission was the biggest in Scotland since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and included regional police, national divisions, special constables and officers from across the UK for specialist support.

Robison wrote: "After your choice not to provide funding to the Scottish government for expenses accrued in connection with the trip of Donald Trump to Scotland in summer 2025 and the subsequent trip of VP Vance, I am contacting you to request that you review this stance and provide complete repayment for the expense of the visits."

UK Government Response and Past Precedent

The UK government maintained that the trips were personal and "not part of official government duties." A representative added: "The Scottish government are responsible for policing costs in Scotland as per established devolved funding arrangements."

While Robison referenced past instances where the UK government reimbursed the cost of Trump’s 2018 visit to the nation, it is understood that trip followed a official UK government invitation, in which case it included security costs 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 … Particularly when you have the PM Sir Keir meeting with Donald Trump, having press conferences with them, conducting global diplomacy with them, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was merely a private holiday trip."