UK Government Urged to Cover Costs of Trump and Vance’s Scotland Visits
The UK government is being pressed to reimburse the £24.5m spent on security and operations during recent visits to Scotland by former US president Donald Trump and vice-president JD Vance.
Provisional figures released by the Scottish government show the costs of both trips totaled nearly £24.5m. Ivan McKee, Holyrood’s public finance minister, criticized the UK government’s refusal to provide funding, calling it “ridiculous” given the official nature of the engagements, including Trump’s discussions with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and UK prime minister Keir Starmer during his stay in July.
Trump spent five days in July at his golf resorts in Turnberry, Ayrshire, and Menie, Aberdeenshire, while Vance visited Ayrshire for four days in August.
In a letter to Treasury chief secretary James Murray, Scottish finance secretary Shona Robison stressed that the visits placed a significant burden on public services, particularly Police Scotland. Policing costs for Trump’s trip alone reached £21m, requiring over 4,000 officers at peak deployment, with an additional £3m spent on Vance’s visit.
The security operation was Scotland’s largest since Queen Elizabeth II’s death in 2022, involving local and national police forces, special constables, and support from UK-wide specialists.
Robison urged the UK government to reconsider its refusal, citing previous cases where costs for Trump’s 2018 Scotland visit—prompted by an official invitation—were covered under funding policies.
A UK government spokesperson stated that the visits were private and not official business, adding that policing costs in Scotland fall under devolved funding arrangements.
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