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The UK government is being urged to "step up" and cover the £24.5 million expense incurred during the recent visits by Donald Trump and Vice-President Vance to Scotland, according to a top Scottish minister.

Substantial Provisional Costs Disclosed

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

Public Finance Minister McKee labeled the Westminster's refusal to provide funding as "absurd," arguing that both visits were clearly work-related, noting that the American leader held meetings with European Union chief the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Sir Keir Starmer during his summer stay in the northern nation.

Details of the Trips and Related Security Expenses

The former president toured his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a five-day trip in July, while American VP JD Vance spent around four days in Ayrshire in late summer.

In a written communication to the Treasury’s chief secretary Chief Secretary Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison stated that the visits placed "substantial operational and financial burdens on Scottish public services, particularly Police Scotland."

The Scottish government estimates that the provisional cost for policing the president's trip by itself was £21m, which reflected peak daily deployments of over four thousand police, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were about £3m.

Complex Security Mission

This complex security mission was the largest in Scotland since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and involved local officers, national divisions, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for specialist support.

Robison wrote: "Following your decision not to offer financial support to Scotland for expenses accrued in relation to the trip of President Donald Trump to Scotland in summer 2025 and the subsequent trip of VP Vance, I am writing you to ask that you reconsider this decision and provide full reimbursement for the cost of the trips."

Westminster Reply and Past Precedent

The British administration maintained that the trips were personal and "not official UK government business." A spokesperson added: "Holyrood are responsible for policing costs in the country as per established funding agreements for devolved matters."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to past instances where the UK government covered the expense of the president's 2018 trip to the nation, it is understood that trip came after a formal UK government invitation, in which instance it included security costs under its funding guidelines.

"Westminster must take action and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was clearly a work visit … Especially when you have the PM Sir Keir meeting with Donald Trump, having press conferences with them, engaging in international business with him, its really hard to believe to say this was just a private holiday trip."