
Trump's visit to Scotland will cost millions of dollars, report says
The visit, officially designated as a 'work trip,' includes stops at his golf courses and the opening of a new course near Aberdeen.
Estimated expenses cover Secret Service overtime, the operating costs of Air Force One and Marine One, and the transportation of vehicles.
Trump is also scheduled to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Scotland's First Minister John Swinney.
The trip is expected to incur substantial costs for Scottish taxpayers due to a major police operation and anticipated protests.
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Spectator
10 minutes ago
- Spectator
Trump is right about North Sea oil
Maybe it is Donald Trump's way of getting back at Keir Starmer for Labour sending activists to campaign for Kamala Harris in last year's presidential election. Either way, the US president seems to have no intention of obeying the convention that leaders of democratic do not delve into the domestic politics of their counterparts in other nations – and especially not while they are on a foreign tour. Today, Trump has doubled down on his attack on the windfarms he says are spoiling the view from his golf courses in Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire. Posting on his Truth Social account he asserted that UK government ministers 'have essentially told drillers and oil companies that 'we don't want you'. Incentivise the drillers FAST. A VAST FORTUNE TO BE MADE for the UK, and far lower energy prices for the people.' We know how Ed Miliband will want to respond to that, assuming he has not been locked away on Starmer's orders for fear of spoiling the PM's friendship with the President. He will put on his bewildered air and tell us that wind and solar power are so much cheaper than oil and gas, and that what Trump is proposing would put us in the hands of 'fossil fuel dictators' who apparently have to power to set energy prices in the UK. The facts, though, are firmly on Trump's side in this case. If Britain's net-zero policy is delivering us such cheap energy how come we have some of the highest electricity and gas prices in the world? According to the government's own data on energy prices, UK domestic consumers paid an average of 36.4 pence for their electricity and 10.2 pence for their gas in 2023. US consumers paid 12.9 pence and 4.0 pence respectively. And no, the UK's high prices cannot be blamed on our reliance on gas. In the UK last year 29.2 per cent of electricity was generated by gas and 30 per cent from wind. In the US the corresponding figures were 42.5 per cent and 10.3 per cent. Nor is it true that the North Sea is in such sharp decline that Britain isn't missing much by refusing new licences and taxing the remaining industry to extinction (with a windfall tax which imposes a levy of 78 per cent on profits). According to the North Sea Transition Authority the combined 'provable and probable' reserves of oil and gas in the North Sea still amount to the equivalent of 3.3 billion barrels of oil. Offshore Energies UK – which represents the industry – puts it at 7.5 billion barrels. To put that into context, over 40 billion barrels equivalent of oil and gas have been extracted from the North Sea since the 1960s. Unlike the US, long-term self-sufficiency in oil and gas is no longer possible for the UK – at least not from the North Sea, although some estimates for shale gas suggest that fracking could produce up to 47 years' worth of supplies at the current rate of consumption. However, there are still useful quantities of oil and gas beneath the North Sea which would be exploited if only the government would allow it. Moreover, no one really knows how much is down there unless you look for it – but who is going to spend money prospecting for new reserves in the current climate? As for Trump's point about greater North Sea production lowering energy prices, it is hard to argue with it. Britain's eager adoption of renewables has not lowered prices, however much Miliband may promise us savings of £300 a year. On the contrary, we seem to be paying through the nose for our electricity and gas – around three times as much for our electricity and two and a half times as much for our gas compared to consumers in the much more fossil fuel-reliant US.


North Wales Chronicle
10 minutes ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Trump showed ‘willingness' to move on whisky tariffs during meeting
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Rhyl Journal
10 minutes ago
- Rhyl Journal
Trump showed ‘willingness' to move on whisky tariffs during meeting
Scotland's First Minister met the president ahead of the opening of a second course at his Aberdeenshire golf club, where he pressed him on the 10% levy on Scotland's national drink. The tariff, it is believed, costs the sector £4 million per week, with distillery bosses keen to reach an agreement as part of the US-UK trade deal. Speaking to the PA news agency after the opening of the course, the First Minister said: 'I think there's a willingness for President Trump to look at the issues that I've set out to him. 'I don't think that was the position a few days ago, because I think President Trump was of the view that the trade deal was done and dusted and that was an end of the matter.' Mr Swinney told Mr Trump Scotch whisky was 'unique' to Scotland and the tariff was a 'significant impediment'. 'I think there is an opportunity for us to make progress,' he added. 'I wouldn't have expected to be able to get an outcome in the course of the discussion I had yesterday and this morning with President Trump, but we will follow this up with the US administration, follow up with the United Kingdom Government, to make the progress that I think Scotland would expect on this matter.' The president was asked about whisky tariffs by journalists at his Ayrshire golf course on Monday, where he appeared not to know there was an issue. 'We'll talk about that, I didn't know whisky was a problem,' Mr Trump said. 'I'm not a big whisky drinker but maybe I should be.'