1978 Scottish regional elections

Regional elections were held in Scotland on Tuesday 2 May 1978, as part of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. They saw a resurgence of support for the Labour Party, retaining control of Strathclyde and Fife and winning Central and Lothian.^[1]

1978 Scottish regional elections

← 1977 2 May 1978 (1978-05-02) 1980 →
Registered	3,737,145
Turnout	44.7
First party Second party   Leader James Callaghan Margaret Thatcher Party Labour Conservative Leader since 5 April 1976 11 February 1975 Seats won 176 136 Seat change 4 24 Popular vote 592,616 453,003 Percentage 39.6% 30.3% Swing 1.1% 1.7%   Third party Fourth party   Leader William Wolfe David Steel Party SNP Liberal Leader since 1969 1976 Seats won 18 6 Seat change - 5 Popular vote 313,062 34,284 Percentage 20.9% 2.3% Swing 8.3% 2.8%
Colours denote the winning party with outright control

National results

Summary of the 1978 Scottish regional council election results^[2][3][4]

Parties		Votes	Votes %	Wards
	Labour	592,616	39.6	176
	Conservative	453,003	30.3	136
	SNP	313,062	20.9	18
	Liberal	34,284	2.3	6
	Communist	7,884	0.5	1
	SLP	6,629	0.4	0
	Independent Ratepayer	5,754	0.4	1
	Independent Labour	4,841	0.3	1
	Independent Nationalist	2,447	0.2	2
	Independent Liberal	1,291	0.1	0
	Workers Revolutionary	168	0.01	0
	Independent	73,449	4.9	89
Total		1,495,428	100.0	431

Results by council area

Council[5][6]	Labour	Conservative	SNP	Liberal	Independent	Other	Turnout	Control		Details
Borders‡	0	9	1	1	11	1			Independent hold	Details
Central‡	18	6	6	0	2	2			Labour Gain	Details
Dumfries and Galloway‡	3	5	1	0	26	0			Independent hold	Details
Fife‡	24	14	1	0	2	1			Labour hold	Details
Grampian‡	13	33	2	2	3	0			Conservative Hold	Details
Highland‡	5	1	2	2	37	0			Independent Hold	Details
Lothian‡	26	18	3	1	1	0			Labour Gain	Details
Orkney‡	0	0	0	0	24				Independent Hold	Details
Shetland‡	3	0	0	0	22				Independent Hold	Details
Strathclyde‡	73	25	2	2	1	0			Labour Hold	Details
Tayside‡	15	25	0	0	6	0			Conservative Hold	Details
Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles)‡	0	0	0	0	30	0			Independent Hold	Details