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The UK government is being urged to "step up" and reimburse the £24.5m cost incurred during recent trips by former President Trump and JD Vance to Scotland, according to a top Scottish minister.

Significant Estimated Expenses Revealed

Preliminary expenses amounting to almost £24.5 million for the two working visits have been published by the Scottish government.

Public Finance Minister McKee described the UK government's unwillingness to provide funding as "ridiculous," stating that both visits were obviously official, noting that the American leader held meetings with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Keir Starmer during his July stay in the northern nation.

Details of the Trips and Related Policing Costs

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

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

The Edinburgh administration estimates that the estimated expense for policing the president's trip alone was £21m, which involved maximum daily assignments of more than 4,000 officers, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3m.

Large-Scale Security Mission

This complex security mission was the biggest in the country since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and included regional police, national divisions, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for specialist support.

The Finance Secretary wrote: "Following your choice not to offer financial support to Scotland for expenses incurred in relation to the visit of President Donald Trump to Scotland in July 2025 and the subsequent visit of Vice-President JD Vance, I am writing you to request that you reconsider this decision and offer full reimbursement for the expense of the trips."

Westminster Reply and Past Precedent

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

While the Finance Secretary referenced previous precedent where the UK government covered the expense of Trump’s 2018 visit to the nation, it is believed that trip followed a official invitation from Westminster, in which case it covered security costs under its statement of funding policy.

"Westminster needs to step up and cover the cost. I think it’s ridiculous, it was obviously a official trip … Especially when you have the prime minister Keir Starmer meeting with Donald Trump, holding joint briefings with them, conducting global diplomacy with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was merely a private holiday trip."