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The British administration is being urged to "step up" and cover the £24.5m cost incurred during the recent visits by Donald Trump and JD Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a top Scottish minister.

Significant Provisional Costs Disclosed

Provisional expenses amounting to almost £24.5 million for the pair of working visits have been published by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee described the Westminster's unwillingness to provide funding as "ridiculous," arguing that both trips were clearly official, pointing out that the American leader held discussions with European Union chief the EU's von der Leyen and UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer during his summer visit in the northern nation.

Particulars of the Visits and Related Policing Costs

The former president toured his golfing resorts at Turnberry and Menie over a week-long period in July, while US vice-president Vance spent around four days in Ayrshire in late summer.

In a formal letter to the Treasury’s chief secretary James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison stated that the visits placed "substantial strains and costs on public services in Scotland, especially the Scottish police force."

The Edinburgh administration calculates that the estimated expense for policing the president's trip by itself was £21m, which reflected maximum daily assignments of over 4,000 officers, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were about £3m.

Large-Scale Security Mission

This extensive security mission was the largest in the country since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and included local officers, national divisions, volunteer officers and officers from across the UK for specialist support.

Robison wrote: "After your choice not to offer financial support to Scotland for expenses incurred in connection with the visit of President Donald Trump to Scotland in July 2025 and the subsequent trip of Vice-President JD Vance, I am contacting you to ask that you review this decision and offer complete repayment for the expense of the trips."

Westminster Response and Past Precedent

The UK government maintained that the visits were personal and "not part of official government duties." A spokesperson commented: "Holyrood must cover security expenses in Scotland as per agreed devolved funding arrangements."

While Robison pointed to previous precedent where the UK government reimbursed the expense of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is understood that visit came after a official invitation from Westminster, in which instance it covered security costs under its statement of funding policy.

"Westminster needs to step up and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was obviously a official trip … Particularly when you have the prime minister Keir Starmer meeting with the president, 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."