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The British administration is being called upon to "step up" and cover the £24.5m cost incurred during the recent trips by former President Trump and Vice-President Vance to Scotland, according to a top Scottish minister.

Significant Estimated Expenses Disclosed

Preliminary expenses totalling nearly £24.5 million for the pair of official trips have been published by the Scottish government.

Public Finance Minister McKee described the Westminster's refusal to provide funding as "absurd," stating that both visits were obviously work-related, noting that the US president held meetings with European Union chief the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Sir Keir Starmer during his July stay in Scotland.

Details of the Visits and Associated Security Expenses

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

In a formal letter to the Treasury’s chief secretary James Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary stated that the trips placed "significant strains and costs on Scottish public services, especially Police Scotland."

The Edinburgh administration calculates that the provisional cost for policing the president's trip by itself was £21 million, which reflected peak daily deployments of over four thousand police, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were about £3 million.

Complex Security Mission

This extensive policing operation was the biggest in the country since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and included local officers, national divisions, special constables and officers from across the UK for expert assistance.

Robison wrote: "After your choice not to offer financial support to the Scottish government for expenses incurred in relation to the trip of Donald Trump to the nation in summer 2025 and the subsequent trip of Vice-President Vance, I am contacting you to ask that you review this decision and provide full reimbursement for the cost of the visits."

UK Government Response and Past Precedent

The British administration stated that the trips were private and "not official UK government business." A spokesperson commented: "The Scottish government must cover security expenses in Scotland as per established devolved funding arrangements."

While Robison pointed to past instances where the British administration reimbursed the cost of the president's 2018 trip to the nation, it is believed that trip followed a official UK government invitation, in which instance it included security costs under its statement of funding policy.

"The UK government needs to step up and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was clearly a work visit … Particularly when you have the PM Sir Keir spending time with the president, holding joint briefings with them, conducting global diplomacy with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was just a private holiday trip."