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The UK government is being urged to "step up" and reimburse the £24.5m cost incurred during the recent trips by Donald Trump and Vice-President Vance to Scotland, according to a senior Holyrood official.

Significant Estimated Expenses Revealed

Preliminary costs totalling almost £24.5m for the pair of working visits have been published by the Scottish government.

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

Details of the Visits and Related Security Expenses

Donald Trump toured his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a five-day period in July, while US vice-president Vance spent around a long weekend in the Ayrshire region in August.

In a written communication to the Treasury minister James Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary wrote that the trips placed "significant operational and financial burdens on public services in Scotland, particularly Police Scotland."

The Edinburgh administration calculates that the provisional cost for policing the presidential visit alone was £21m, which involved peak daily deployments of over 4,000 officers, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3m.

Complex Security Mission

This complex policing operation was the biggest in Scotland since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and included regional police, national divisions, special constables and officers from across the UK for expert assistance.

Robison stated: "Following your decision not to offer financial support to Scotland for costs incurred in relation to the visit of President Donald Trump to the nation in summer 2025 and the subsequent trip of VP JD Vance, I am writing you to request that you review this stance and provide complete repayment for the expense of the trips."

UK Government Reply and Past Precedent

The British administration stated that the trips were personal and "not official UK government business." A representative added: "The Scottish government are responsible for security expenses in the country as per established funding agreements for devolved matters."

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

"Westminster needs to step up and cover the cost. I think it’s unreasonable, it was obviously a official trip … Particularly when you have the PM Sir Keir spending time with the president, having press conferences with them, engaging in global diplomacy with them, its really hard to believe to say this was just a private holiday trip."