Donald Trump’s four-day visit to Scotland is expected to cost taxpayers more than £14 million. The US President jets in to the UK on Friday and is expected to meet Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as well as visit his golf resorts at Turnberry, on the Ayrshire coast, and Menie in Aberdeenshire.
It’s a private visit which won’t have the glitz and glamour of a planned separate state visit, when the President will be the guest of the King. But it will still require an immense security operation. Security for a similar non-state visit by the US President in 2018, when he also spent some time in Scotland, cost £14.8 million. This was also a four-day visit, and was followed by a full state visit the year after. Mr Trump was serving his first term as president at the time.
However, even more effort could be made to keep the President safe this weekend, because of the assassination attempt which the US President survived in July last year. He was wounded in his right ear.
Assistant Chief Constable Emma Bond of Police Scotland told Sky News that the attempt on Mr Trump’s life would be a factor. She said: “There’s a broad range of considerations, absolutely. I mean, it would be inappropriate for me to plan an operation and not bear in mind what has happened in other parts of the world.
“But with that in mind, we’ve got a really experienced team of officers working as part of planning the operation.
“We’ve got really good command experience, and I’m confident that the operation that we will deliver is proportionate and what is required to meet the needs and to ensure that we keep the president safe.”
While local police will help keep the president safe, he also brings security arrangements with him from the US. This includes an armoured limousine known as “The Beast” to transport him.
Police are working on the assumption there will be protests in Ayrshire, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh, Emma Bond said.
The policing plan involves local, national and specialist officers from Police Scotland as well as other forces.
She said: “The key very much is to make sure the President of the United States can come, enjoy a peaceful and safe visit to Scotland and ensure Police Scotland is able to maintain delivery of services to the rest of the community within Scotland over the period of his visit.”
Ms Bond said Police Scotland would take a “proportionate” approach to ensure people could protest safely, with the force offering to engage with demonstrators ahead of time on a “no surprises” basis.
But she said there was nothing at this stage to give her “specific concern” about violence.
First Minister John Swinney said talks were still ongoing about how costs would be handled for the visit, but said that Scotland’s police force would not suffer as a result.
“Police Scotland will obviously have to deal with the circumstances that they face in relation to the policing operation,” he said.
“They are seeking mutual aid because the scale of the operation that is required requires additional resources that couldn’t ordinarily be justified in Scotland’s circumstances.
“But obviously, we’ll work with Police Scotland, with the Scottish Police Authority and with the United Kingdom Government on the costs.”
Pushed on whether that funding would have to come from the already allocated policing budget, the First Minister said: “We’ll obviously work closely with Police Scotland on the funding of this policing operation and make sure that policing in Scotland is not in any way put in a detrimental position as a consequence of the visit of President Trump.”