"Provisional costs of almost 24.5m for the two working visits have been published by the Scottish government. Ivan McKee said it was ridiculous that the UK government had so far refused to provide funding, framing both trips as private visits, despite the fact that the US president held meetings with the EU Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, as well as the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, during his time in Scotland in July."
"In a letter to James Murray, the Treasury's chief secretary, Scotland's finance secretary, Shona Robison, said the visit imposed substantial operational and financial burdens on Scottish public services, particularly Police Scotland. The Scottish government estimates that the provisional cost of policing the presidential visit alone was 21m, reflecting peak daily deployments of more than 4,000 officers, while costs for the vice-president's trip were about 3m."
Scotland estimates provisional costs of almost 24.5m for two working visits by US president Donald Trump and vice-president JD Vance. The presidential visit to Turnberry and Menie in July cost an estimated 21m for policing, with peak daily deployments exceeding 4,000 officers. The vice-president's four-day Ayrshire visit incurred about 3m. The complex operation involved local officers, national divisions, special constables and UK colleagues for specialist support and was the largest policing operation in Scotland since the 2022 death of Queen Elizabeth II. Scotland's finance secretary, Shona Robison, has asked the UK Treasury to reconsider and provide full reimbursement. The UK government maintains the visits were private and not official UK business.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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