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The British administration is being called upon to "take responsibility" and reimburse the £24.5 million cost incurred during recent trips by Donald Trump and JD Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a top Scottish minister.

Substantial Estimated Expenses Revealed

Provisional expenses totalling nearly £24.5m for the two working visits have been published by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee labeled the Westminster's unwillingness to provide funding as "absurd," arguing that both trips were clearly official, pointing out that the American leader held meetings with European Union chief the EU's von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his summer visit in the northern nation.

Details of the Trips and Associated Security Expenses

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

In a formal letter to the Treasury minister Chief Secretary Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison wrote that the trips placed "significant strains and costs on public services in Scotland, particularly Police Scotland."

The Scottish government calculates that the provisional cost for securing the presidential visit alone was £21m, which involved peak daily deployments of more than four thousand police, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3 million.

Large-Scale Policing Operation

This extensive policing operation was the largest in Scotland since the passing of the late Queen in 2022, and involved local officers, national divisions, volunteer officers and officers from across the UK for specialist support.

The Finance Secretary stated: "Following your choice not to provide funding to the Scottish government for expenses incurred in connection with the visit of President Donald Trump to the nation in summer 2025 and the following visit of VP JD Vance, I am writing you to ask that you reconsider this decision and offer full reimbursement for the cost of the trips."

Westminster Reply and Past Precedent

The UK government maintained that the trips were private and "not official UK government business." A spokesperson added: "The Scottish government must cover policing costs in the country as per established devolved funding arrangements."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to previous precedent where the British administration covered the cost of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is understood that trip came after a official UK government invitation, in which case it covered protection expenses under its funding guidelines.

"Westminster needs to step up and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was clearly a official trip … Especially when you have the PM Sir Keir spending time with Donald Trump, holding joint briefings with him, conducting international business with him, its really hard to believe to say this was just a private holiday trip."