🔗 Share this article British and Scottish government Governments Clash Over Who Should Pay the £24.5 million Cost for Trump and Vance Trips The British administration is being called upon to "take responsibility" and reimburse the £24.5m expense incurred during the recent visits by Donald Trump and JD Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a senior Scottish minister. Substantial Provisional Costs Revealed Provisional expenses totalling nearly £24.5 million for the pair of official trips have been published by the Scottish government. Public Finance Minister McKee described the UK government's unwillingness to provide funding as "absurd," arguing that both trips were clearly work-related, noting that the US president held discussions with European Union chief the EU's von der Leyen and UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer during his July stay in Scotland. Details of the Visits and Related Security Expenses The former president visited his golfing resorts at Turnberry and Menie over a five-day period in the summer, while US vice-president Vance spent approximately a long weekend in Ayrshire in late summer. In a formal letter to the Treasury minister James Murray, Finance Secretary Shona Robison stated that the visits placed "significant operational and financial burdens on public services in Scotland, particularly Police Scotland." The Scottish government calculates that the estimated expense for securing the presidential visit alone was £21m, which reflected peak daily deployments of more than 4,000 officers, while costs for the vice-president’s trip were about £3m. Complex Security Mission This extensive security mission was the biggest in Scotland since the passing of the late Queen in 2022, and included local officers, specialist units, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for expert assistance. Robison stated: "Following your choice not to provide funding to the Scottish government for expenses accrued 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 reconsider this stance and provide full reimbursement for the cost of the visits." UK Government Response and Past Precedent The UK government stated that the visits were personal and "not official UK government business." A spokesperson commented: "Holyrood are responsible for policing costs in Scotland as per agreed funding agreements for devolved matters." While Robison referenced past instances where the British administration reimbursed the expense of the president's 2018 trip to the nation, it is understood that trip followed a official UK government invitation, in which case it included protection expenses under its statement of funding policy. "The UK government needs to step up and pay. I think it’s ridiculous, it was obviously a official trip … Especially when you have the prime minister Keir Starmer spending time with Donald Trump, holding joint briefings with them, engaging in international business with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was just a private holiday trip."