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The British administration is being urged to "take responsibility" and reimburse the £24.5 million expense incurred during recent visits by Donald Trump and JD Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a top Holyrood official.

Substantial Estimated Expenses Revealed

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

Public Finance Minister McKee described the UK government's unwillingness to offer financial support as "ridiculous," stating that both trips were obviously official, noting that the US president held meetings with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his July stay in the northern nation.

Particulars of the Trips and Associated Security Expenses

The former president visited his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a week-long period in July, while American VP Vance spent around a long weekend in the Ayrshire region in late summer.

In a written communication to the Treasury’s chief secretary James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison wrote that the trips placed "substantial strains and costs on Scottish public services, particularly Police Scotland."

The Scottish government calculates that the provisional cost for securing the presidential visit alone was £21m, which reflected maximum daily assignments of over 4,000 officers, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were about £3 million.

Complex Policing Operation

This complex policing operation was the largest in Scotland since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and included regional police, national divisions, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for specialist support.

Robison stated: "Following your decision not to provide funding to Scotland for expenses incurred in relation to the visit of Donald Trump to Scotland in summer 2025 and the following trip of VP Vance, I am contacting you to request that you reconsider this stance and provide full reimbursement for the expense of the trips."

Westminster Reply and Past Precedent

The UK government maintained that the visits were personal and "not part of official government duties." A representative added: "The Scottish government must cover security expenses in Scotland as per established funding agreements for devolved matters."

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

"The UK government needs to step up 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 Donald Trump, having press conferences with them, engaging in international business with him, its really hard to believe to say this was merely a private holiday trip."