Trump left and the bill stayed. London and Edinburgh are arguing over the costs of the US president's visit

The Scottish and British governments are arguing over who should cover the costs of recent visits to Scotland by US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, British media reported on Wednesday. The visits cost almost £24.5 million.

Trump spent four days in Scotland in July, visiting, among others, his golf courses in Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire, while Vance was in Ayrshire for four days in September. But in between playing golf, Trump met with the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and First Minister (Prime Minister of Scotland) John Swinney.

The authorities in Edinburgh asked the government in London to reimburse the costs of securing the visits of both American politicians. However, he is of the opinion that since he did not issue official invitations, the visits – despite the meetings mentioned above – were of a private nature, so there are no grounds for reimbursement of costs.

Scottish Finance Minister Shona Robison wrote a letter to British Deputy Finance Minister James Murray, stressing that the visits were a “significant operational and financial burden on the Scottish public services, in particular Police Scotland”. At its peak, Trump's visit required the deployment of 4,000 police officers a day.

On Wednesday, the Scottish government presented the costs incurred to secure both visits – a total of 24.49 million pounds was spent on this purpose (21.35 million for Trump's visit, 3.14 million for Vance's visit), of which expenditure on police protection amounted to 24.1 million.

“Following your decision not to provide funding to Scotland to cover the costs associated with President Donald Trump's visit to Scotland in July 2025 and the subsequent visit by Vice President J.D. Vance, I am asking you to reconsider this decision and provide full reimbursement for the costs of these visits,” Robison wrote.

– The President and Vice-President's visits were private visits to Scotland, and law enforcement matters are, of course, the responsibility of the Scottish Government. The UK government only covers security costs for official visits based on a formal invitation, and that was not the case this time, Murray explained to the media. (PAP)

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