EXCL: UK taxpayers have picked up a £53k bill for US military aircraft landing at Prestwick Airport. The majority, £40k, came in July '18 - the month @realDonaldTrump flew in to the airport to visit his Turnberry resort. My @TheScotsman latest. Thread 👇scotsman.com/news/people/re…
Here’s how it works. Prestwick - owned by the Scottish Govt - invoices the US embassy in London for landing, navigation & parking fees incurred by US Armed Forces. But the UK Ministry of Defence pays the bills. I got hold of dozens of invoices detailing the payments. Here's one: 
The deal - which is reciprocal - is little known about, even in defence circles, but it means UK taxpayers stump up every time a US military flight lands at Prestwick or any other UK civilian airport. According to invoices I’ve seen, fees for some flights are as high as £7k+
The MoD has only confirmed to me it’s paid £53k covering 77 US military flights at Prestwick since Trump came to office. But it admits it’s yet to receive, let alone process, invoices spanning that timeframe, and says it has “limited level of documentation” about the payments.
What’s clear, though, is that in the month Trump visited Turnberry to play two rounds of golf, the UK public purse took a hit. There were at least 35 US military flights at Prestwick that month, with taxpayers - via the MoD - picking up fees totalling £40,166, invoices show.
The MoD is also refusing to disclose to me details about specific flights. It says that to do so would, or would be likely to prejudice relations between the UK and US, and allow potential aggressors or terrorist organisations to identify patterns of military air traffic.
But as any plane spotter will tell you, it's inconceivable those 77 flights constitute the full extent of US military flights at Prestwick since 2017. US procurement data shows the Defence Logistics Agency has placed *1,093* fuel orders at the airport since Oct ‘17, worth £15m+
It’s worth remembering that US military custom at Prestwick and Trump Turnberry formed part of a broader investigation by the House Oversight Committee in the US Congress, a story that @NatashaBertrand broke, and which was widely followed. scotsman.com/news/transport…
In October, meanwhile, I reported multiple allegations Prestwick was waiving ‘service fees’ for US military aircraft. The airport has repeatedly refused to answer my Qs. An appealed FoI I filed is currently with the Scottish Information Commissioner. scotsman.com/news/prestwick…
There’s more on this to come on this story in 2020. If you have any info or tips, my DMs are open, and my secure email is martynmcl@protonmail.com. In the meantime, I'm off for a mince pie and a large Scotch. 🎄🎄🎄
