The British administration is being urged to "step up" and cover the £24.5 million cost incurred during recent trips by former President Trump and Vice-President Vance to the Scottish nation, according to a top Holyrood official.
Preliminary costs totalling nearly £24.5m for the two working visits have been made public by the administration in Edinburgh.
Ivan McKee labeled the Westminster's refusal to provide funding as "ridiculous," arguing that both trips were clearly work-related, noting that the US president held meetings with EU Commission president the EU's von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his July stay in Scotland.
The former president toured his golf courses at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire over a five-day trip in the summer, while American VP Vance spent around four days in Ayrshire in late summer.
In a formal letter 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, particularly Police Scotland."
The Edinburgh administration estimates that the provisional cost for policing the presidential visit by itself was £21 million, which involved maximum daily assignments of over four thousand police, while expenses for the vice-president’s trip were approximately £3m.
This extensive policing operation was the biggest in the country since the passing of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and involved local officers, specialist units, special constables and wider UK colleagues for expert assistance.
The Finance Secretary wrote: "Following your choice not to provide funding to the Scottish government for costs incurred in connection with the visit of President Donald Trump to Scotland in summer 2025 and the subsequent visit of Vice-President Vance, I am contacting you to ask that you reconsider this stance and provide complete repayment for the expense of the trips."
The British administration stated that the trips were personal and "not official UK government business." A representative added: "Holyrood must cover policing costs in Scotland as per established funding agreements for devolved matters."
While Robison pointed to previous precedent where the British administration covered the cost of the president's 2018 trip to the nation, it is understood that visit followed a official invitation from Westminster, in which case it covered security costs under its funding guidelines.
"Westminster must take action and cover the cost. I think it’s ridiculous, it was obviously a work visit … Especially when you have the prime minister Keir Starmer meeting with the president, having press conferences with him, conducting international business with him, its really stretching the bounds of credibility to say this was merely a private holiday trip."
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