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The UK government is being urged to "take responsibility" and reimburse the £24.5m cost incurred during the recent visits by Donald Trump and JD Vance to Scotland, according to a top Holyrood official.

Substantial Estimated Expenses Disclosed

Preliminary costs amounting to nearly £24.5 million for the pair of working visits have been published by the administration in Edinburgh.

Ivan McKee labeled the Westminster's refusal to provide funding as "absurd," arguing that both visits were clearly work-related, noting that the American leader held meetings with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and British PM Sir Keir Starmer during his July stay in Scotland.

Particulars of the Visits and Associated Policing Costs

The former president toured his golf courses at Turnberry and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a week-long trip in the summer, while American VP JD Vance spent around a long weekend in the Ayrshire region in late summer.

In a written communication to the Treasury minister James Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary wrote that the trips placed "substantial operational and financial burdens on public services in Scotland, especially the Scottish police force."

The Scottish government calculates that the provisional cost for securing the president's trip by itself was £21 million, which involved peak daily deployments of over four thousand police, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were about £3 million.

Complex Policing Operation

This complex policing operation was the biggest in the country since the death of the late Queen in 2022, and included regional police, specialist units, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for expert assistance.

Robison wrote: "After your decision not to provide funding to Scotland for expenses incurred in relation to the visit of Donald Trump to Scotland in July 2025 and the following visit of Vice-President Vance, I am writing you to ask that you reconsider this stance and provide complete repayment for the cost of the visits."

UK Government Response and Past Precedent

The UK government maintained that the visits were personal and "not official UK government business." A spokesperson added: "The Scottish government are responsible for security expenses in Scotland as per agreed funding agreements for devolved matters."

While Robison referenced past instances where the UK government reimbursed the cost of Trump’s 2018 visit to Scotland, it is understood that trip came after a official invitation from Westminster, in which instance it covered protection expenses under its statement of funding policy.

"The UK government needs to step up and pay. I think it’s ridiculous, it was clearly a work visit … Especially when you have the PM Keir Starmer meeting with Donald Trump, holding joint briefings with him, engaging in global diplomacy with him, its really hard to believe to say this was just a personal vacation."