HUMZA Yousaf has called on the Home Office to foot the full £5 million policing bill for the expected visit of Donald Trump to Scotland next month.

The US presidential visit to the UK from Friday July 13 is due to see the largest public demonstration ever staged in this country against a visiting head of state.

In a letter to Home Secretary Sajid Javid, the Scottish Government’s Justice Secretary said there was a “clear precedent” for the UK Government to provide additional funding to police forces involved in major events, such as happened at the G8 summit at Gleneagles in 2005, and that as the host to the US President’s visit, it was down to the UK Government to pay for it.

Mr Yousaf wrote: “I was surprised and disappointed to note the Home Office’s comment on this matter that ‘policing in Scotland is a devolved matter, so anything about costs or funding for the police is a matter for the Scottish Government, not the UK Government’. This is completely unacceptable,” declared the Justice Secretary.

“I would welcome confirmation from you that the UK Government will reimburse the costs associated with the policing of this event,” he added.

Earlier this week, Police Scotland cancelled all leave for the weekend of July 14/15.

Iain Livingstone, its acting Chief Constable, pointed out how he did not know how the estimated £5m cost of policing any presidential visit north of the border would be met; the force overspent its budget by £35m last year.

He explained: "We need to consider a wide variety of policing factors, ranging from the deployment of appropriate security measures that would be required for the President of the US as a protected person and clearly the policing of potential events in relation to his visit, including potential demonstration and protest."

In response to Mr Yousaf’s letter, a UK Government spokesman said: "Details of the President’s visit have not been confirmed but the UK Government is, of course, in contact with our partners ahead of his official visit next month."

Meanwhile, Downing Street made clear it would help the Scottish Government, including financially, to cope with police cover for any mass display of public opposition to the US President north of the border.

No 10 declined to set out any details of Mr Trump’s visit but stressed: “It’s important to reiterate there are Government mechanisms to support devolved administrations if they are ever asked, more generally, to put on large-scale events and support them, and we will, of course, look to work with all of our partners in the devolved administrations should that happen.”

Asked about helping authorities with advance planning by giving out details of the presidential visit, Theresa May’s deputy spokeswoman added: “You have to appreciate there are security and protective reasons around when you can communicate programmes like this, which is completely typical and normal.”

Protest organisers are expecting hundreds of thousands of people to turn out for a number of major demonstrations planned for Friday July 13, the first full day of Mr Trump’s visit to the UK, and Saturday July 14. These are set to take place in London, Glasgow, and Edinburgh.

The Stop Trump Coalition has organised the “Carnival of Resistance” in what is expected to be a massive march through the UK capital and culminating in a two-hour rally in Trafalgar Square with high profile speakers and performers set to be announced over the coming days. Organisers suggested the UK capital would be brought “to a standstill”.

A spokesman for the group said: “We are expecting hundreds of thousands of people in London wanting their voices heard because they reject the normalisation of a Trump agenda; one that is based around hate and divisiveness.

“We’re hearing from migrant groups, families, musicians, NHS workers, women’s groups, environmentalists, ordinary people from every corner of the country; they all want to know how they can get involved.

“People want to send a message to everyone fighting against this politics of hate, we all stand united together, and we not allow the clock to be turned back to the darkest moments of human history.”

Unite the Union is putting on free coaches to help transport demonstrators from the Midlands to London.

It is expected that among the protesters will be a raft of prominent politicians, including possibly Jeremy Corbyn, who has made a number of outspoken attacks against the US President’s policies.

When asked if the Labour leader could join the anti-Trump demonstration, his spokesman said: “Let’s see what happens on the protest front. I’m sure there will be very substantial protests against his visit. The feeling in Britain about the Trump presidency is running pretty high.”

Both Mr Corbyn and Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, have come out against next month’s “red carpet” visit, saying in the circumstances, particularly regarding the row over the detention of child migrants in America, it would be inappropriate, but both have also stressed that if it went ahead, they would be prepared to respect the office of the US President and meet Mr Trump.

The American President cancelled a visit in February to formally open the new US embassy in London because, it is thought, he faced the prospect of a major public protest.

He is likely to arrive in Britain on the evening of Thursday July 12 following a Nato summit in Brussels.

Suggestions have been made that his security chiefs have urged him to avoid London and the prospect of a major public display of opposition. Police chiefs are concerned the size of the demonstrations could pose a major security risk. It is thought up to 10,000 police officers could be drafted in to protect Mr Trump, including elite armed officers and so-called counter-terrorist “robo-cops”.

It is expected, therefore, that Mr Trump will, using his Marine One helicopter, visit the Prime Minister at Chequers, her country retreat in Buckinghamshire, before travelling to Windsor Castle to have lunch with the Queen and then onto Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, the birthplace and ancestral home of Sir Winston Churchill.

Speculation is mounting that Mr Trump will on Saturday July 14 be in Scotland, visiting his family’s golf course at Turnberry and possibly the Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire.

On Monday July 16, the US President is due to hold his eagerly-anticipated summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.