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

Substantial Estimated Expenses Revealed

Preliminary costs totalling almost £24.5m for the pair of working visits have been made public by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee described the UK government's unwillingness to provide funding as "absurd," arguing that both visits were obviously official, noting that the US president held meetings with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer during his July stay in the northern nation.

Particulars of the Trips and Associated Policing Costs

Donald Trump toured his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a week-long period in July, while US vice-president Vance spent approximately four days in Ayrshire in late summer.

In a formal letter to the Treasury minister Chief Secretary Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary wrote that the visits placed "substantial strains and costs on public services in Scotland, particularly the Scottish police force."

The Scottish government calculates that the estimated expense for policing the president's trip by itself was £21 million, which reflected peak daily deployments of over four thousand police, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3 million.

Complex Policing Operation

This complex security mission was the biggest in Scotland since the passing of the late Queen in 2022, and involved local officers, national divisions, special constables and wider UK colleagues for expert assistance.

The Finance Secretary wrote: "Following your decision not to provide funding to the Scottish government for costs incurred in relation to the trip of Donald Trump to the nation in summer 2025 and the subsequent visit of Vice-President Vance, I am contacting you to request that you review this stance and offer complete repayment for the expense of the visits."

UK Government Reply and Past Precedent

The UK government maintained that the trips were private and "not official UK government business." A representative commented: "Holyrood are responsible for policing costs in Scotland as per agreed devolved funding arrangements."

While the Finance Secretary referenced past instances where the British administration reimbursed the expense of the president's 2018 trip to the nation, it is understood that visit came after a formal invitation from Westminster, in which instance it included security costs under its statement of funding policy.

"The UK government needs to step up and cover the cost. I think it’s unreasonable, it was obviously a official trip … Especially when you have the prime minister Sir Keir meeting with the president, having press conferences with them, engaging in international business with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was just a private holiday trip."