🔗 Share this article

The British administration is being urged to "step up" and reimburse the £24.5 million cost incurred during recent trips by former President Trump and Vice-President Vance to Scotland, according to a senior Scottish minister.

Substantial Provisional Costs Disclosed

Preliminary expenses amounting to nearly £24.5 million for the two working visits have been made public by the Scottish government.

Public Finance Minister McKee labeled the UK government's refusal to provide funding as "ridiculous," stating that both visits were obviously work-related, pointing out that the US president held discussions with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his summer visit in the northern nation.

Particulars of the Visits and Related Policing Costs

The former president toured his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie over a week-long trip in July, while US vice-president Vance spent approximately a long weekend in the Ayrshire region in late summer.

In a formal letter to the Treasury minister James Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary stated that the visits placed "significant operational and financial burdens on Scottish public services, especially Police Scotland."

The Scottish government calculates that the provisional cost for securing the presidential visit by itself was £21m, which reflected maximum daily assignments of more than four thousand police, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3 million.

Complex Policing Operation

This complex security mission was the biggest in Scotland since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and involved local officers, specialist units, volunteer officers and officers from across the UK for expert assistance.

The Finance Secretary wrote: "After your decision not to provide funding to Scotland for expenses accrued in relation to the trip of President Donald Trump to Scotland in summer 2025 and the subsequent visit of Vice-President JD Vance, I am contacting you to request that you reconsider this decision and provide full reimbursement for the expense of the trips."

Westminster Response and Past Precedent

The UK government stated that the trips were private and "not official UK government business." A representative commented: "Holyrood are responsible for security expenses in the country as per established devolved funding arrangements."

While the Finance Secretary referenced previous precedent where the British administration reimbursed the cost of Trump’s 2018 visit to Scotland, it is understood that trip came after a official invitation from Westminster, in which case it covered protection expenses under its statement of funding policy.

"The UK government must take action and pay. I think it’s ridiculous, it was clearly a official trip … Particularly when you have the prime minister Keir Starmer meeting with Donald Trump, holding joint briefings with him, conducting international business with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was merely a personal vacation."