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The British administration is being urged to "take responsibility" and cover the £24.5 million expense incurred during the recent visits by Donald Trump and JD Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a senior Holyrood official.

Significant Provisional Costs Disclosed

Provisional expenses totalling almost £24.5m for the pair of working visits have been published by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee labeled the UK government's refusal to offer financial support as "absurd," stating that both visits were obviously official, pointing out that the American leader held meetings with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his July stay in the northern nation.

Details of the Visits and Associated Security Expenses

The former president visited his golfing resorts at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a week-long trip in July, while American VP Vance spent approximately a long weekend in the Ayrshire region in August.

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 calculates that the provisional cost for securing the presidential visit by itself was £21 million, which reflected peak daily deployments of more than 4,000 officers, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3 million.

Complex Security Mission

This extensive policing operation was the largest in Scotland since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and included local officers, specialist units, volunteer officers and officers from across the UK for expert assistance.

The Finance Secretary stated: "Following your choice not to offer financial support to Scotland for costs accrued in connection with the trip of President Donald Trump to the nation in July 2025 and the following trip of VP JD Vance, I am writing you to ask that you reconsider this decision and provide complete repayment for the expense of the trips."

Westminster Reply and Past Precedent

The British administration stated that the visits were private and "not part of official government duties." A spokesperson added: "The Scottish government must cover policing costs in the country as per agreed devolved funding arrangements."

While the Finance Secretary pointed to previous precedent where the UK government covered the expense of the president's 2018 trip to the nation, it is believed that trip followed a formal UK government invitation, in which case it covered security costs under its statement of funding policy.

"Westminster must take action and cover the cost. I think it’s ridiculous, it was clearly a official trip … Especially when you have the prime minister Keir Starmer spending time with the president, holding joint briefings with him, conducting global diplomacy with them, its really hard to believe to say this was merely a personal vacation."