1978 Scottish regional elections

1978 Scottish regional elections
← 1977 2 May 1978 (1978-05-02) 1980 →
Registered3,737,145
Turnout44.7
  First party Second party
  Margaret Thatcher
Leader James Callaghan Margaret Thatcher
Party Labour Conservative
Leader since 5 April 1976 11 February 1975
Seats won 176 136
Seat change Increase4 Increase24
Popular vote 592,616 453,003
Percentage 39.6% 30.3%
Swing Increase1.1% Increase1.7%
  Third party Fourth party
  David Steel
Leader William Wolfe David Steel
Party SNP Liberal
Leader since 1969 1976
Seats won 18 6
Seat change - Decrease5
Popular vote 313,062 34,284
Percentage 20.9% 2.3%
Swing Increase8.3% Decrease2.8%
Colours denote the winning party with outright control

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]

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

References

  1. ^ "Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  2. ^ McConnell, Alan (2004), Scottish Local Government, Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 978-0-7486-2005-0
  3. ^ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (2013). Local Elections in Britain. Routledge. pp. Table 7.5.
  4. ^ Bochel, J. M.; Denver, D. T.; McHardy, B. J. Scottish Regional Election 1978: Results and Statistics. University of Dundee and University of Lancaster. pp. 59–63.
  5. ^ "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  6. ^ "The Glasgow Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.


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