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The British administration is being urged to "step up" and reimburse the £24.5m cost incurred during recent visits by Donald Trump and Vice-President Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a senior Holyrood official.

Significant Provisional Costs Disclosed

Preliminary expenses totalling nearly £24.5 million for the pair of official trips have been published by the Scottish government.

Ivan McKee labeled the UK government's refusal to offer financial support as "absurd," arguing that both trips were clearly work-related, noting that the American leader held meetings with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his July stay in Scotland.

Details of the Visits and Associated Security Expenses

The former president visited his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie over a five-day trip in July, while US vice-president Vance spent around a long weekend in Ayrshire in August.

In a written communication to the Treasury minister Chief Secretary Murray, Scotland’s finance secretary wrote that the visits placed "substantial strains and costs on public services in Scotland, especially 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 expenses for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3m.

Complex Policing Operation

This extensive security mission was the largest in Scotland since the passing of the late Queen in 2022, and involved regional police, specialist units, volunteer officers and wider UK colleagues for expert assistance.

The Finance Secretary stated: "Following your decision not to provide funding to Scotland for costs incurred in relation to the trip of President Donald Trump to Scotland in summer 2025 and the subsequent trip of Vice-President Vance, I am contacting you to request that you reconsider this decision and provide full reimbursement for the cost of the visits."

Westminster Response and Past Precedent

The British administration stated that the visits were personal and "not part of official government duties." A spokesperson added: "The Scottish government are responsible for security expenses in the country as per agreed devolved funding arrangements."

While the Finance Secretary referenced previous precedent where the UK government reimbursed the cost of the president's 2018 trip to Scotland, it is believed that trip followed a formal invitation from Westminster, in which instance it included security costs under its statement of funding policy.

"The UK government must take action and pay. I think it’s unreasonable, it was obviously a work visit … Especially when you have the prime minister Sir Keir spending time with the president, having press conferences with them, conducting global diplomacy with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was just a personal vacation."