Key points
- The UK Supreme Court has arrived in Glasgow for four days of public appeal hearings at the City Chambers on George Square, running from Monday 18 May to Thursday 21 May 2026.
- The court is sitting north of the border as part of a rare outreach effort, giving Scottish law students, practitioners and the public a chance to observe the UK’s highest appellate judges in action.
- The bench is led by Lord Reed, the Court’s President and an Edinburgh‑educated lawyer, who has consistently promoted greater public access to the Supreme Court and is said to welcome the opportunity to sit in Scotland.
- He is joined by Lord Stephens, Lady Rose, Lady Simler, Lord Doherty and former Deputy President Lord Hodge for the Glasgow sittings.
- Seats in the courtroom are available on a first‑come, first‑served basis, with doors opening at 10am each day; the hearings are also being streamed live on the Supreme Court’s official website.
- The Glasgow leg of the court’s travelling sitting covers three main appeals: ScottishPower v HMRC; Forthwell Limited v Pontegadea UK Limited; and a double bill on Thursday of Rice v Wicked Vision Limited and Barton Turns Developments Limited v Treadwell.
Glasgow (Glasgow Express) May 18, 2026 – The UK Supreme Court has opened its first sitting in Glasgow for several years, convening four days of appeal hearings at the City Chambers on George Square, with the public invited to observe the process in person or online. As reported by the Supreme Court’s own communications team, the visit marks one of the Court’s periodic “external sittings,” designed to bring the UK’s highest appellate judges closer to regions outside London and to demonstrate how constitutional and tax‑law disputes are resolved at the apex of the system.
The Glasgow sittings run from Monday 18 May through Thursday 21 May 2026, with morning and afternoon sessions each day. The courtroom in the City Chambers is being used as a temporary Supreme Court venue, with seats allocated on a first‑come, first‑served basis, and doors opening at 10am to allow members of the public and legal professionals to take their places. In addition, the Court is broadcasting the hearings live on its official website so that viewers across Scotland, the rest of the UK and beyond can follow proceedings without travelling to Glasgow.
Who is on the bench for the Supreme Court’s Glasgow sittings?
The Court’s President, Lord Reed, is leading the judicial panel in Glasgow. As noted by the Court’s official biography, Lord Reed graduated in law from the University of Edinburgh and has long been an advocate for greater transparency and public understanding of the Supreme Court’s work, including the use of external sittings and live streaming.
His presence in Glasgow is seen by Court officials as a deliberate signal that the UK’s highest court remains engaged with the legal community in Scotland.
Joining Lord Reed on the bench are Lord Stephens, Lady Rose, Lady Simler, Lord Doherty and former Deputy President Lord Hodge. Each of these justices has previously sat on major constitutional, commercial and tax‑law cases, and the Glasgow sittings are being treated as part of their regular appellate calendar rather than a ceremonial visit.
The Supreme Court has stressed that the Glasgow hearings will be conducted in the same manner as sitting in London, with the same procedural rules, dress code and formalities.
How are the public being invited to attend the Supreme Court hearings?
The Court has emphasised that the Glasgow sittings are open to the public, subject to available seating. As stated by the Supreme Court’s communications unit, members of the public may attend by arriving at the City Chambers on George Square from 10am each day and taking unreserved seats on a first‑come, first‑served basis.
Security checks are in place, and visitors are asked to follow standard court etiquette, including switching off mobile‑phone ring‑tones and refraining from audio or video‑recording inside the courtroom.
For those unable to attend in person, the Court is providing a live webcast of all hearings via its official website.
A short guide published by the Court explains how viewers can access the stream, what case information will be displayed, and the typical structure of an appeal hearing, including the opening submissions, respondents’ arguments and the justices’ questions.
Legal educators and student‑law societies in Glasgow and Edinburgh have been encouraging students to attend in person or watch online as part of their training in appellate advocacy and constitutional law.
What appeals are being heard over the four days in Glasgow?
The Glasgow sittings cover several significant appeals, each of which has been listed in advance on the Supreme Court’s official calendar.
The first case, ScottishPower v HMRC, occupies the court’s time on Monday 18 May and part of Tuesday 19 May. According to the Court’s case summary, this appeal centres on the correct interpretation of specific tax‑relief provisions applied to a large energy‑sector transaction, and the outcome could influence how similar tax‑advantage structures are treated in future disputes.
The case is being heard by the full Glasgow‑seated bench, with Lord Reed and his colleagues expected to question counsel about the scope of the relevant tax‑code wording and the wider policy implications.
Later on Tuesday and into Wednesday 20 May, the Court turns to Forthwell Limited v Pontegadea UK Limited. The Supreme Court’s brief outlines this as a dispute over the interpretation of certain contractual and property‑law clauses in a commercial development agreement, with the core issue relating to the allocation of financial risk between the parties.
Counsel for both sides are expected to address how long‑standing principles of contract interpretation apply in complex, multi‑party development deals.
On Thursday 21 May, the Court will hear two separate appeals back‑to‑back. The first is Rice v Wicked Vision Limited, described in the Court’s listing as a case concerning the scope of liability in a commercial dispute involving alleged breaches of contract and misrepresentation.
The second is Barton Turns Developments Limited v Treadwell, which focuses on issues that arise when different parties lay claim to the beneficial ownership of certain interests in a property‑development project.
The Court has indicated that both matters raise questions of general application to commercial and property‑law practice, which is why they were selected for the Glasgow sitting.
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Background of this development
External sittings of the UK Supreme Court outside London are not entirely new, but they remain relatively infrequent. The Court has previously held hearings in Edinburgh, Belfast and other cities, in part to respond to long‑standing calls for greater public visibility and regional representation of the UK’s highest appellate body.
Proponents of these sittings have argued that they help demystify the Court’s work for students, lawyers and the general public who may never otherwise set foot in the Supreme Court building in Westminster.
The decision to base this four‑day block in Glasgow reflects, in part, the growing importance of Scottish legal professionals and students in the wider UK legal ecosystem.
The City Chambers on George Square, a historic municipal building, has been chosen as the venue to underline the link between the highest court and local civic institutions.
The Court’s practice of live‑streaming has also been expanding in recent years, with Glasgow’s sittings forming one of several scheduled regional hearings in 2026 that will be available online.
Prediction: How this development could affect the audience
Because the Glasgow hearings are being held in person and online, they are likely to be watched by several distinct audiences: law‑students and recent graduates, practitioners in business and property law, and members of the public interested in constitutional and tax‑law issues. For students and junior lawyers, the opportunity to observe the Supreme Court’s style of questioning, the framing of legal issues, and the way justices distilled complex arguments into core questions may provide a clearer picture of how appellate advocacy works in practice.
