The Scottish and UK government are at odds over who should pay for policing costs linked to recent visits by Donald Trump and JD Vance.
The US president spent four days in July visiting his golf courses in Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire.
BBC Scotland News reports that the Scottish government has asked the Treasury to reimburse about £20million in security and policing costs related to the president’s visit.
Shona Robison, Scotland's finance secretary, is also seeking to recoup £6million for for Vice President JD Vance's August holiday in Ayrshire.
Writing to the chief secretary to the Treasury James Murray, Ms Robison argued that the UK Government covered similar costs during Mr Trump’s 2018 visit to Scotland.
She said: “There is a clear previous precedent, where the UK government has supported policing costs for visits to devolved nations by foreign dignitaries".
But the UK Government refused the request, insisting both visits were private and not part of any "official UK government business" and therefore "the Scottish Government is responsible for policing costs".
A spokesperson said the Treasury only covers expenses for visits made at the government’s invitation — which was not the case this year.
Ms Robison said that the president’s visit was “diplomatically significant” and warned that failure to reimburse the costs would "strain devolved budgets [and] set a troubling precedent for future high-profile visits."