🔗 Share this article

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

Substantial Estimated Expenses Disclosed

Preliminary expenses amounting to almost £24.5 million for the pair of working visits have been published by the administration in Edinburgh.

Public Finance Minister McKee labeled the UK government's unwillingness to provide funding as "absurd," arguing that both trips were obviously work-related, pointing out that the American leader held discussions with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Sir Keir Starmer during his July visit in Scotland.

Details of the Visits and Associated Security Expenses

Donald Trump toured his golfing resorts at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a week-long trip in the summer, while US vice-president JD Vance spent around four days in the Ayrshire region in late summer.

In a written communication to the Treasury’s chief secretary Chief Secretary Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary wrote that the visits placed "substantial operational and financial burdens on public services in Scotland, particularly Police Scotland."

The Scottish government calculates that the provisional cost for policing the presidential visit by itself was £21 million, which reflected peak daily deployments of over four thousand police, while expenses for the VP's visit were approximately £3 million.

Large-Scale Security Mission

This complex policing operation was the largest in Scotland since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and involved local officers, specialist units, special constables and wider UK colleagues for specialist support.

Robison wrote: "Following your choice not to offer financial support to the Scottish government for expenses accrued in relation to the visit of President Donald Trump to Scotland in July 2025 and the following trip of Vice-President JD Vance, I am writing you to ask that you reconsider this stance and offer full reimbursement for the expense of the visits."

UK Government Response and Past Precedent

The UK government maintained that the trips were private and "not part of official government duties." A spokesperson commented: "Holyrood are responsible for security expenses in Scotland as per agreed devolved funding arrangements."

While the Finance Secretary referenced past instances where the British administration reimbursed the expense of Trump’s 2018 visit to the nation, it is understood that visit followed a official UK government invitation, in which case it covered security costs under its funding guidelines.

"The UK government needs to step up and pay. I think it’s ridiculous, it was obviously a work visit … Particularly when you have the prime minister Keir Starmer spending time with the president, having press conferences with them, conducting international business with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was just a personal vacation."