🔗 Share this article

The UK government is being urged to "take responsibility" and cover the £24.5m cost incurred during recent visits by former President Trump and JD Vance to Scotland, according to a top Holyrood official.

Significant Provisional Costs Revealed

Provisional expenses amounting to nearly £24.5 million for the two official trips have been made public by the Scottish government.

Public Finance Minister McKee described the UK government's refusal to offer financial support as "ridiculous," stating that both visits were clearly work-related, noting that the American leader held discussions with European Union chief the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Sir Keir Starmer during his summer stay in the northern nation.

Details of the Visits and Related Security Expenses

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

In a written communication to the Treasury minister Chief Secretary Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary stated that the visits placed "significant operational and financial burdens on public services in Scotland, especially Police Scotland."

The Scottish government calculates that the provisional cost for securing the presidential visit by itself was £21 million, which involved peak daily deployments of over four thousand police, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3 million.

Large-Scale Policing Operation

This extensive policing operation was the biggest in the country since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and included local officers, national divisions, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for expert assistance.

The Finance Secretary stated: "Following your choice not to provide funding to the Scottish government for expenses accrued in relation to the trip of President Donald Trump to Scotland in summer 2025 and the following visit of Vice-President JD Vance, I am writing you to ask that you review this decision and offer complete repayment for the cost of the trips."

Westminster Reply and Previous Example

The British administration maintained that the visits were personal and "not official UK government business." A spokesperson added: "The Scottish government are responsible for security expenses in Scotland as per agreed devolved funding arrangements."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to previous precedent where the UK government covered the cost of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is understood that visit followed a formal invitation from Westminster, in which case it included protection expenses under its statement of funding policy.

"Westminster needs to step up and pay. I think it’s ridiculous, it was obviously a work visit … Especially when you have the prime minister Sir Keir spending time with the president, having press conferences with him, conducting global diplomacy with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was just a private holiday trip."