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The UK government is being urged to "step up" and cover the £24.5m cost incurred during recent trips by Donald Trump and Vice-President Vance to Scotland, according to a top Holyrood official.

Significant Estimated Expenses Revealed

Provisional expenses amounting to almost £24.5m for the pair of official trips have been made public by the administration in Edinburgh.

Public Finance Minister McKee labeled the UK government's unwillingness to provide funding as "absurd," arguing that both visits were obviously work-related, noting that the US president held meetings with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Sir Keir Starmer during his summer visit in Scotland.

Details of the Visits and Associated Policing Costs

The former president visited his golfing resorts at Turnberry and Menie over a five-day period in July, while US vice-president Vance spent approximately four days in Ayrshire in late summer.

In a formal letter to the Treasury minister James Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary wrote that the trips placed "substantial strains and costs on public services in Scotland, especially the Scottish police force."

The Edinburgh administration estimates that the estimated expense for policing the presidential visit by itself was £21m, which involved peak daily deployments of over four thousand police, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3m.

Large-Scale Policing Operation

This complex policing operation was the biggest in the country since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and involved local officers, national divisions, volunteer officers and officers from across the UK for expert assistance.

The Finance Secretary stated: "After your decision not to offer financial support to Scotland for expenses incurred in relation to the trip of Donald Trump to the nation in July 2025 and the subsequent trip of VP Vance, I am contacting you to request that you review this stance and offer complete repayment for the cost of the trips."

Westminster Reply and Previous Example

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

While the Finance Secretary pointed to past instances where the UK government covered the cost of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is understood that trip followed a official UK government invitation, in which instance it included protection expenses under its funding guidelines.

"The UK government must take action and cover the cost. I think it’s ridiculous, it was obviously a work visit … Especially when you have the PM Keir Starmer meeting with the president, holding joint briefings with him, conducting global diplomacy with him, its really hard to believe to say this was merely a personal vacation."