National Wealth Fund to put £28m into carbon capture project
Peak Cluster is working towards a pipeline that will take carbon emissions from cement and lime companies in the Peak District and store them below the Irish Sea.
The £28.6 million is coming from the National Wealth Fund (NWF) a body announced by the Government last year with £27.8 billion to invest in clean energy and growth industries, in the hope of catalysing other private investment.
Peak Cluster is also backed by £31 million from the private sector, the Treasury said, and will be the NWF's first investment in carbon capture, since Rachel Reeves said in March that it should be a priority.
The Chancellor said: 'We're modernising the cement and lime industry, delivering vital carbon capture infrastructure and creating jobs across Derbyshire, Staffordshire and the North West to put more money into working people's pockets.'
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband described the investment as a 'landmark' that could help 'deliver thousands of highly skilled jobs'.
'Workers in the North Sea and Britain's manufacturing heartlands will drive forward the country's industrial renewal, positioning them at the forefront of the UK's clean energy transition,' he added.
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Telegraph
37 minutes ago
- Telegraph
How Labour gave British pubs an almighty hangover
It is a sunny afternoon in July and The Cricketers, in Eight Ash Green near Colchester, is heaving. Pints are poured, plates of food are carried hurriedly to tables and conversation fills the air. It has every appearance of being a thriving local business. Its landlord, however, is close to breaking point. Forty-one-year-old Matthew Allum, who runs the pub along with two others in Essex, has spent his entire working life in the trade, but is worried for its future. 'I just get myself fed up now, and it brings me to tears. I keep promising my missus that it's going to get better,' he says. Allum faces almost £150,000 in extra costs this year. In a bid to keep costs down, he says he has been putting in 80 to 100-hour weeks, doing everything from pouring pints to unblocking sinks. After years of pressure, landlords like Allum are worried 2025 could be a turning point. The pub could be facing last orders – largely because of government policy. 'I don't know what it is with pubs this time around, but they really have got it in for us,' Allum laments. Labour pains It was barely more than a year ago that the Chancellor was promising to 'turn the page' for Britain's pubs. Grinning as she pulled a pint in The Humble Plumb, in Southampton, in June 2024, Rachel Reeves promised Labour would revive this 'important institution'. Yet just months after the party gained power, Reeves's maiden Budget dashed any hopes of a revival. Not only would employers' National Insurance (NI) contributions rise, but the threshold at which it is paid would be lowered from £9,000 to £5,000 – lighting a rocket under the cost of employing staff. At the same time, the Chancellor announced that the business rates relief for hospitality brought in during Covid would be cut, while the minimum wage would rise by 6.7pc. The Budget was billed as a painful but necessary measure to help fix the economy and fund public services. But publicans say the unexpected tax raid has damaged their ability to invest, grow and hire staff. Sir Tim Martin, JD Wetherspoon's chairman, has said the Budget will cost his company an extra £60m a year. Young's has raised its prices by around 20p per pint to offset the extra costs. Stonegate, Britain's biggest pub company, has cited the tax raid as one of the reasons behind plans to make up to 150 head office staff redundant. Meanwhile, Jeremy Clarkson, the Top Gear presenter turned pub landlord, accused Reeves of 'using a machine gun on publicans'. 'The Autumn Statement last year was the worst Budget that I've known, and I've been working in this industry for over 40 years,' says Phil Thorley, the owner of pub group Thorley Taverns. 'They have absolutely kiboshed growth and jobs and investment in hospitality, full stop.' The lowering of the NI threshold is particularly controversial because of the number of part-time and lower-paid staff in the sector. Casual work is critical in pubs, with many young people, university students or working parents manning the bars in the hours when they can. Trade group UKHospitality, which represents pubs, bars and restaurants, has estimated the total extra cost for its members from the Budget measures will be £3.4bn per year. The impact is already being felt, with 69,000 hospitality jobs lost since last autumn. Almost a third of hospitality businesses surveyed earlier this year said they were now at risk of failure. In Essex, Allum says the combined impact of the rise in NI contributions and the lowering of business rates relief has pushed his costs up by more than £30,000, while the rise in the minimum wage has added another roughly £100,000 on top. Because of the size of his business, he does receive some relief on NI payments, but it pales in comparison to the total bill. On top of this, companies that supply his pubs have raised their prices as they pass on the added costs they face. Greene King, from whom Allum rents The Cricketers, has increased the price of its beers by more than 3pc, he says. He has had to cancel refurbishments, reduce menus and cut staff numbers by not replacing those who leave. The added stress has affected his personal life. 'My hours went up and my way of life went down. I've got a newborn baby, and last week I didn't have a single day off. I started that Monday morning, and I finished at half past nine Sunday night. 'Staff are saying to me I need to have a day off but I can't, stuff needs to get done if I want to keep costs down. Those costs might be that the sink's blocked, so I've got to unblock it – I can't just phone the plumber because I can't afford it any more.' What frustrates Allum is not just that his tax bill has gone through the roof, but that he can't see the value in it either. 'I'm all up for paying tax,' he says. 'When I saw my baby being born, and I met the midwives, they are insanely amazing people, and you talk to them, and they're like 'there is no money to renew this department'. That is bonkers. 'Then I look at the VAT I pay and the NI I pay. And then I have to work 80, 90 or 100 hours a week. Where is all of our money?' Many publicans are simply giving up. According to the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), roughly one pub is set to close every day in 2025. If that forecast comes to pass, it would take the number of pubs in Britain to its lowest level in a century, according to the BBPA. It is not for lack of demand. Spending in Britain's bigger pub chains is relatively stable. They grew their sales by 0.5pc in May while restaurants and bars dropped 2.5pc and 5.1pc respectively, according to data firm CGA. But there is only so much customers can bear. 'I'm not going to pay £6.50 for a pint,' says Trevor Cootes bluntly. He is a Sainsbury's delivery driver and regular at The Cricketers, among those enjoying the pub on the sunny July afternoon. Unfortunately for Cootes and others like him, higher prices seem inevitable. As Labour piles on costs, the price of a pint is climbing rapidly, topping £5 for the first time earlier this year, according to BBPA data. In many places it is already pushing £7 and in London, it is not difficult to find pubs charging more than £8 in some cases. Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, says the woes of the pub sector should worry Reeves. 'We are the canary in the coal mine,' she says. 'You could see that with Covid. You can see that in every financial or economic crash that we've had. If they're small or large recessionary periods … pub-going is one of the first things that is hit because it's discretionary spend.' Blow after blow There are few cultural institutions as cherished as the pub. As the great critic Samuel Johnson once said: 'There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.' Pubs have provided a place for people to gather, relax, commune, debate and escape for centuries. 'Until about the 1920s your home was a pretty s--- hovel, one roof, no separate rooms, no privacy,' says Pete Brown, author of The Pub: A Cultural Institution. 'People went to the pub as a place that was warm, comfortable. Even if people couldn't afford to buy a pint, there'd be a communal slops that you could take a drink from.' He adds: 'Before municipal buildings or local councils, there were no public buildings. So even in the 19th century, you see pubs being used for weddings, wakes, inquests, public meetings, anything that required people to get together, it would happen in the pub.' Yet this cornerstone of British life has been gradually eroded in recent decades. More than a quarter of the country's pubs have closed since 2000, according to the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), amounting to approximately 15,800 premises lost. 'Part of it is about deindustrialisation,' says Nicholls. 'Around factories, urban areas and heavy industry, people would more frequently end up after work going to the pub and having a drink. If you shut down a lot of those big, heavy industries, the pubs around it shut down too or don't cope. 'Over the course of that period too, you've got more women coming into work and looking for different types of outlets, so you get the birth of the wine bar, and more female-friendly brands.' New Labour's 2007 ban on smoking in pubs also irreversibly changed the trade – although the exact impact is hard to measure because it came into force shortly before the global financial crisis of 2008. To cope with the smoking ban and squeezed economy, many more pubs pivoted towards becoming gastropubs, serving high-quality food. But even this is a struggle in an era when energy costs have gone through the roof. Nowadays, pub owners are having to deal with another major shift in what people want from their local watering holes, as drinking becomes less popular. While it is commonly said that younger people are going cold on booze, it is not just Gen Z. Older people are drinking less too, prompting many pubs to start offering alternatives like coffee. Competition from other types of hospitality businesses has increased too. Speaking at an industry conference earlier this year, the boss of one restaurant group claimed that US fried chicken chains were effectively replacing pubs among Gen Z. 'I used to say in the 1980s and 1990s that our big competition was not other pubs, but Chinese restaurants, whereas nowadays that spectrum of competitive places is much bigger,' says Jerry Brunning, who runs a handful of pubs in the North West. Competition from supermarkets has hurt pubs too. Bosses have long argued it is unfair that they must pay VAT on food sales while supermarkets do not have to. It helps supermarkets subsidise alcohol to sell it at a lower price to attract customers. JD Wetherspoon's Sir Tim told The Telegraph this week that the 'widening of the selling price between pubs and supermarkets will inevitably precipitate pub closures and dereliction'. Some have also argued that the way big breweries and pub companies operate has played a role in the decline of pubs. So-called 'tied' arrangements – through which publicans rent a pub from a brewery or pub company and agree to purchase all or most of their beer from them – have been criticised as exploitative. Greg Mulholland, of the Campaign for Pubs, says: '[The Budget] is made even worse for those publicans operating under the unfair tied model, who have to pay hugely marked-up prices for beer, which in preventing many publicans making a living and pushing up the price of a pint to customers.' 'I thought it was all over' However, the greatest blow to pubs in recent memory was surely the pandemic and the surging inflation that followed it. Pubs had to contend with a string of surreal restrictions such as only being able to sell alcohol to customers eating a 'substantial meal'. After being forced to shut for months at a time during 2020 and 2021, many are still carrying a financial hangover after taking out government-backed loans to survive. 'We went and got an absolutely substantial loan, because we had to keep ourselves going – we're still reeling from that,' says Thorley. 'And yet, the Government then go and raise National Insurance.' As the pandemic drew to a close, pub owners were expecting a bounce-back. 'You've only got to look at what everybody wanted to do after Covid – they wanted to go to the pub and see their mates, even though [ministers] made it as difficult under the restrictions as they did,' says Thorley. Yet it was not long before the cost of everything from beer to ingredients, fuel and labour surged, driving margins lower and making it harder to turn a profit. 'In the 1980s and the 1990s we would find it easy to get 20pc or even 25pc Ebitda [earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation], whereas now it's more like 12pc or 13pc,' says Brunning. Energy costs, which soared in the wake of the pandemic, have been particularly painful. Allum went from paying between £30,000 and £40,000 a year for energy to as much as £120,000 in the years following the pandemic. Costs have only recently come down, and then only slightly. 'Energy went on beyond our wildest dreams, and it nearly bankrupted us,' he says. This led to his darkest moment: last February his business was on the verge of collapse. 'I thought it was all over. The energy costs and the food costs were getting the better of us. My mum had to inject a large amount of her inheritance into the business to stop it. That's not fair that these greedy companies and the taxman just keep taking.' Others have not been so lucky. 'When I came here in 2006 there were two pubs in the village,' says Allum. 'There is now only one. Up and down Colchester you hear them either changing hands regularly, where people just run out of money, or they just go. 'Sometimes you hear one might bounce back a little while, and I'm like 'brilliant'. I don't look at them as competitors. I'm just grateful they're all still there. I think people should have choice that is not a big corporation.' Publicans are pushing for a cut to VAT, which landlords say would allow them to boost trade and offset the impact of the Budget. Evidence from Germany appears to back up these claims. During the pandemic, German ministers cut VAT on food and drink sold by hospitality from 19pc to 7pc. When the rate reverted to 19pc, prices rose and the industry suffered. This sparked a U-turn, which will see the rate drop to 7pc permanently from next year. 'This would give me the breathing space to lower the price of food,' says Allum. He wants to see VAT reduced from 20pc to 12pc. 'Stop inflicting pain' Industry chiefs hope all is not lost. Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the BBPA, says that the autumn Budget costs were 'devastating' for brewers and pubs. But she adds: 'Labour does have time to get the sector back on track and we will work with them to unlock the potential of the sector, which will mean more growth, more jobs, and crucially keep this unique part of our heritage alive.' Industry figures point to some positive moves, such as a recently announced push to revive the late night trade and slash red tape for hospitality. This will see fresh powers handed to Sir Sadiq Khan to call in blocked planning applications in London. Crucially, the Government has brought forward plans to lessen the burden of business rates on hospitality and retail firms, which will see them charged a lower multiplier. Venues have been begging ministers to do this for more than a decade, and it is something the previous Conservative governments repeatedly failed to deliver despite promising to do so in 2015, 2017 and 2019. This could go some way towards repairing the relationship between Labour and the pub trade. But Nicholls says the timeline for support measures is 'glacially slow'. Adding to landlords' gloom is the fact that Reeves has warned tax will in fact have to rise in the autumn after a series of costly policy U-turns. With last year's Budget in tatters, helping the pub sector is likely to be low on her priority list. Jonathan Lawson, chief executive of Butcombe Group, which runs more than 120 pubs in the UK, says: 'The limit of my ambition is just stop inflicting pain.' Ultimately, 'it's the NI that is the real game changer for the sector', says Nicholls. 'Overnight it's pushed many businesses from being viable, dynamic and vibrant to being unviable and fearful for their future.' Back in Essex, Allum isn't giving up just yet. 'I love hospitality,' he says. 'I love seeing people coming in happy, having a good day, and catching up with their friends, or finishing work and just relaxing … that to me means more than having a bank account full of money. You will never ever replace the pub in a community. You can't.' But in the long run he is less optimistic. He says: 'I think pubs have 10 to 20 years left, unless something dramatic changes, unless the breweries and the big corporations and the Government suddenly wake up to what they're doing to the fabric of this country.' Gareth Thomas, the business minister, said: 'We are determined to make the UK the best place in the world for businesses to start and succeed, and that includes our great British pubs. 'We're working with industry to slash red tape and have announced a permanent cut to business rates, to ease the pressure on pubs and help them grow as part of our Plan for Change.'
Telegraph
38 minutes ago
- Telegraph
‘I'm paying thousands of pounds to protect my children from inheritance tax'
Paul Hiatt is spending hundreds of pounds a year on life insurance to protect his children's inheritance from falling into the clutches of Rachel Reeves. Hiatt first took out a policy eight years ago, but was forced to take another deal out shortly after the October Budget, Labour's first in 14 years. 'Our pensions are now a cash cow for the Chancellor,' he says. He is one of thousands of families across Britain attempting to shield their hard-earned money and mitigate a large inheritance tax bill. Financial advisers say life insurance policies designed to pay off tax bills were traditionally seen as a 'last resort or sticking plaster' due to expensive premiums. However, Labour's premiership has 'triggered a renewed surge in interest', says David Little, of financial planner Evelyn Partners. Some policies are specifically designed to meet death duties that may be due on gifts under the 'seven-year rule' (see more, below), while others simply pay out a cash amount that can be used as the family sees fit. So, should you follow suit and take evasive action now, parting with large sums of cash today to potentially avoid larger sums in the future? How life insurance can reduce your bill From April 2027, private pensions will become part of a person's estate and therefore be liable for inheritance tax. This will add substantially to the amount of inheritance tax HMRC collects. Reeves also targeted family businesses and farmers. Inheritance tax will be charged on 50pc of the value of business or agricultural assets above £1m from April 2026. Hiatt, who lives in rural Warwickshire, spent 46 years working in the water industry as a project manager and retired nearly three years ago. The 67-year-old has one life insurance policy with Scottish Widows, costing £500 a year, and one with Vitality Life, costing £717.24 annually. They are 'term' policies, meaning a lump sum is only paid to his beneficiaries if he dies before his 90th birthday, and each payout is fixed at £50,000. He wants to leave his estate to his two children, who are 24 and 30. If a life insurance policy is written into a trust, it is counted as outside of a person's estate, and the lump sum can then be used to pay an inheritance tax bill. Sometimes this is done automatically, but in other cases, it is up to whoever takes out the policy to make sure it is written into trust. Millions of pounds a year are needlessly handed over to HMRC in extra inheritance tax because this simple decision has not been taken. Premiums vary depending on your age and other factors, such as whether you smoke. As the chances of dying sooner are far greater, policies for over-65s are usually significantly more expensive than for younger customers. The average inheritance tax bill paid by estates has increased from £199,000 to £243,000, according to LifeSearch, a broker. It said a 60-year-old non-smoker can expect to pay £431 a month for whole of life cover of £300,000. For an 80-year-old, this soars to £1,413 a month. On the other end of the scale, a 30-year-old buying a whole life policy would currently pay around £9.39 a month, with a £10,000 payout. If a 30-year-old wants a policy that will pay out £100,000, it will cost £54.20 a month with Legal and General, at today's rates. Sales of whole of life cover, also known as life assurance, have increased more than threefold since last autumn, says insurance broker Justin Harper. Harper, of LifeSearch, says: 'We have seen a noticeable rise in the number of whole of life policies being taken out specifically to address inheritance tax planning, driven by both adviser recommendations and customer-initiated enquiries. A fixed amount of cover or cover that rises with inflation are available, Harper explains. The latter might be chosen as the potential tax liability is likely to increase over time. If you are younger and planning ahead, term insurance can be 'more cost-effective in the short term'. However, Katie Ridland, of wealth manager St James's Place, advises clients to opt for whole of life policies because 'you can't plan the date of your death'. Both policies mean your family does not have to wait for probate, the money is released quickly and allows them to pay inheritance tax without delay. 'The best day to take out life insurance was yesterday,' adds Ridland. 'It's the two inevitable things that people don't want to talk about – death and taxes – but we need to talk about protection from an early age.' After the Budget left him 'gobsmacked', Hiatt also decided to give money away to his children. Unlimited sums of money can be given away without being liable for inheritance tax if they are made out of income, are part of normal expenditure and leave the donor enough money to maintain a normal standard of living (see more on the valuable unlimited gifting rule here). The donor must live for seven years after giving the money to avoid a tax bill if they are leaving behind more than the tax-free allowance. 'I've got a substantial amount in a defined contribution pension pot, and I have also benefited from a final salary benefit scheme as well, so I count myself very lucky,' Hiatt says, 'but the Budget certainly put the cat among the pigeons. I'm really disappointed.' Families can also use an insurance policy to protect these gifts from inheritance tax. A gift inter vivos insurance can be used to shield a loved one from paying the levy on money or assets if you pass away within seven years of gifting. Tony Müdd of St James's Place says this is growing in popularity and is a 'simple and effective solution' to covering unexpected tax liabilities. 'Better ways of saving inheritance tax' However, life insurance policies are 'by no means a silver bullet', Evelyn Partners' Little says. Mike Warburton, The Telegraph's tax expert, warns they are only 'appropriate in the right circumstances'. He adds: 'I am not keen on whole life policies, which are expensive and do not reduce the overall tax burden. In my view, there are better ways of saving inheritance tax.' Savers can put other assets into trusts to protect them from death duties, as well as giving money out of surplus income, as explained above. Warburton says there is a risk that elderly people will enter into a commitment to make regular premiums and 'subsequently run into a problem if they have expensive care needs.' Little says: 'Whole of life insurance plans were seen somewhat as a last resort, or a sticking plaster until financial planning evolved. This was mainly due to the cost of the premiums, which can be very expensive, especially if health concerns are present. 'However, the October Budget introduced pensions into the estate calculation from 2027, triggering a renewed surge in interest from clients in these policies. When written in trust, they can provide a tax-free lump sum for children or other beneficiaries outside of probate, enabling the inheritance tax liability to be cleared, leaving the other assets intact and ready to be inherited. 'That's said, they are by no means a silver bullet. It is important that the expected total premium payable is weighed against the sum assured and life expectancy of the client.'
Scotsman
39 minutes ago
- Scotsman
John Swinney urged to 'seize opportunity' of Donald Trump visit to Scotland
Sign up to our Politics newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... John Swinney has been urged to "seize the opportunity" of Donald Trump's widely expected visit to Scotland later this month and stand up for the interests of Scottish firms, with the First Minister told to set out a 'clear' position regarding possible engagements with the US president. Amid unconfirmed reports that Prime Minister Keir Starmer has accepted an invitation to visit Mr Trump while he is in Scotland, pressure is mounting on Mr Swinney to detail what, if any, plans he and his colleagues in the Scottish Government have to to meet with the US president and his delegation. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It is understood details of any visit, including the dates, are still being finalised. But Mr Trump is expected to visit his inaugural golf resort in Aberdeenshire ahead of the opening of a second 18-hole course named after his Lewis-born mother, Mary Anne MacLeod. He may also visit his course at Turnberry in South Ayrshire. Mr Swinney has already faced questions this year over his stance towards Mr Trump. In March, he said he did not say how a formal state visit to the UK - expected to take place later this autumn - could proceed in light of Mr Trump's actions around Ukraine. The First Minister warned if the visit went ahead, it risked 'undermining the future of western democracy'. Donald Trump is expected to attend his Aberdeenshire resort if he visits Scotland this summer. | TSPL Less than a fortnight later, however, Mr Swinney met Mr Trump's son, Eric, who largely oversees the Trump Organisation's businesses in Scotland, at Bute House. The meeting was requested by Sarah Malone, executive vice-president of Trump International Scotland, who was also in attendance. While that meeting focused on the Trump Organisation's investments in Scotland, figures from across the political and business spectrums have said Mr Swinney should act to ensure other Scottish businesses are fully represented at a time when there remains significant unease around the Trump administration's use of tariffs. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Craig Hoy, the Scottish Conservative shadow finance and local government secretary, said: 'Key Scottish businesses suffered the last time President Trump introduced tariffs, so it is vital that John Swinney seizes this opportunity to stand up for their interests. 'Ahead of any visit, the First Minister must make his position clear too on engaging with the president. Earlier in the year, he demanded the state visit was axed only to secretly meet Eric Trump a matter of weeks later. 'As industries like whisky and salmon worry about tariffs, it is important that Scotland speaks with one voice and engages firmly, but constructively, to protect jobs, economic growth and exports to America.' Mr Swinney met in March with Mr Trump's son, Eric. | PA Dr Liz Cameron, chief executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC), said: 'A visit from the sitting US president is a major opportunity to strengthen Scotland's economic ties with the world's biggest economy. The Prime Minister and First Minister should engage directly and continue to build on our deep connections with the US. This is about investment, exports and jobs, not politics. Scotland must be front and centre in global business conversations. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Scotland's exports, from whisky and salmon to renewables and fintech, are world class. The US is a key market and now's the time to reinforce our value. We should be pushing for better trade terms, fewer barriers, and stronger commercial partnerships. This is about delivering real economic impact.' Dr Cameron said if Mr Trump's schedule allowed, the SCC would also be 'delighted' to meet with him to help further its goals of growing Scottish exports, attracting US investment, and championing Scotland as a 'global business hub'. Guy Hinks, chair of the Federation of Small Businesses Scotland, said: "The US is a key market for many small Scottish businesses, particularly artisan food and drink makers, such as small distillers and craft bakers. For small Scottish firms who trade internationally, our research shows the US is the top market outside the EU, with more than half (59 per cent) exporting to the United States and nearly a third importing goods. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "Scotland should be making the most of every advantage it has when it comes to promoting the interests of the small businesses community, which drives so much of our economy. That includes seizing every opportunity to engage with the president of the US on matters affecting the interests of Scottish businesses.' It is understood that should Mr Trump's long rumoured visit be confirmed, Mr Swinney's office would provide details of any plans. Any visit not expected to include a meeting with King Charles III, despite speculation the two men could meet at either Balmoral or Dumfries House in East Ayrshire. Mr Swinney was criticised for meeting with Eric Trump at Bute House earlier this year, with Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater describing the engagement at the time as 'totally inappropriate'. 'It is a bad call that sends a terrible message,' she said. 'When it comes to the Trumps, the line between business and politics has always been blurred.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad On Wednesday, Police Scotland's assistant constable Emma Bond said planning was underway for a 'potential visit' to Scotland by Mr Trump. She said while official confirmation had not yet been made, it was important the force prepare in advance for what would be a 'significant policing operation'. The Scottish Government said it was working with the UK government to support Police Scotland, and that Mr Swinney had been briefed on police preparations. When Mr Trump visited Scotland during his presidential term in 2018, the occasion required a major security operation, with thousands of people staging protests in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Liberal Democrat Scottish affairs spokesperson Christine Jardine criticised the 'millions in policing costs' run up by previous visits. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Trump's last visit to Scotland was in 2023, when he and Eric broke ground on the new course in Aberdeenshire, which is set to be officially opened next month. Police Scotland Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs said earlier this week the cost of policing the mooted visit by Mr Trump would be 'considerable'. 'We will seek support for the financial costs associated with such an event and I'd be confident that those costs will be met,' he said. Mr Speirs said he was confident Police Scotland would be able to deal with any protests, urging those who would want to demonstrate to 'do it in a fair and reasonable way and within the realms of the law'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The Scotch Whisky Association has previously described being left 'disappointed' at the companies it represents being impacted by the 10 per cent tariff imposed on US imports of UK goods, under sweeping changes announced by Mr Trump when he assumed the presidency. The SWA, which represents more than 90 companies from across the Scotch whisky industry, said in April it would continue to support efforts by the UK government to reach a compromise agreement with Mr Trump's administration.
