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The UK government is being urged to "take responsibility" and cover the £24.5m expense incurred during recent visits by Donald Trump and Vice-President Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a senior Holyrood official.

Substantial Estimated Expenses Revealed

Preliminary expenses amounting to almost £24.5m for the two working visits have been made public by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee described the Westminster's refusal to provide funding as "ridiculous," arguing that both trips were obviously work-related, pointing out that the American leader held discussions with European Union chief the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Keir Starmer during his summer visit in the northern nation.

Details of the Visits and Related Policing Costs

Donald Trump visited his golf courses at Turnberry and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a week-long period in July, while American VP JD Vance spent approximately a long weekend in the Ayrshire region in late summer.

In a written communication to the Treasury minister James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison stated that the visits placed "substantial operational and financial burdens on public services in Scotland, especially Police Scotland."

The Edinburgh administration calculates that the provisional cost for securing the president's trip by itself was £21 million, which involved peak daily deployments of more than 4,000 officers, while costs for the VP's visit were approximately £3m.

Large-Scale Security Mission

This extensive policing operation was the biggest in the country since the passing of the late Queen in 2022, and included regional police, specialist units, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for specialist support.

The Finance Secretary stated: "After your decision not to provide funding to the Scottish government for costs accrued in connection with the visit of Donald Trump to the nation in summer 2025 and the subsequent trip of VP Vance, I am contacting you to ask that you reconsider this decision and offer complete repayment for the expense of the trips."

UK Government Reply and Previous Example

The UK government maintained that the trips were personal and "not official UK government business." A spokesperson commented: "The Scottish government are responsible for security expenses in the country as per established funding agreements for devolved matters."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to past instances where the British administration reimbursed the cost of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is believed that visit came after a official UK government invitation, in which case it covered security costs under its statement of funding policy.

"The UK government needs to step up and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was obviously a work visit … Especially when you have the PM Keir Starmer spending time with the president, holding joint briefings with them, engaging in international business with him, its really hard to believe to say this was merely a private holiday trip."