| Election Name: | 1978 Scottish regional elections |
| Country: | Scotland |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1977 Scottish local elections |
| Previous Year: | 1977 |
| Next Election: | 1980 Scottish local elections |
| Next Year: | 1980 |
| Registered: | 3,737,145 |
| Turnout: | 44.7 |
| Party1: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Seats1: | 176 |
| Seat Change1: | 4 |
| Popular Vote1: | 592,616 |
| Percentage1: | 39.6% |
| Swing1: | 1.1% |
| Party2: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Seats2: | 136 |
| Seat Change2: | 24 |
| Popular Vote2: | 453,003 |
| Percentage2: | 30.3% |
| Swing2: | 1.7% |
| Party4: | Scottish National Party |
| Seats4: | 18 |
| Seat Change4: | - |
| Popular Vote4: | 313,062 |
| Percentage4: | 20.9% |
| Swing4: | 8.3% |
| Party5: | Liberal Party (UK) |
| Seats5: | 6 |
| Seat Change5: | 5 |
| Popular Vote5: | 34,284 |
| Percentage5: | 2.3% |
| Swing5: | 2.8% |
| Map Size: | 350px |
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]
|-!colspan=2|Parties!Votes!Votes %!Wards|-| |592,616|39.6|176|-| |453,003|30.3|136|-| |313,062|20.9|18|-| |34,284|2.3|6|-| |7,884|0.5|1|-| |6,629|0.4|0|-||Independent Ratepayer|5,754|0.4|1|-| |4,841|0.3|1|-||Independent Nationalist|2,447|0.2|2|-| |1,291|0.1|0|-| |168|0.01|0|-| style="width: 10px" bgcolor=|| style="text-align: left;" scope="row" | Independent|73,449|4.9|89|-!colspan=2|Total!! 1,495,428 !! 100.0 !! 431|}
| Council[2] [3] | Labour | Conservative | SNP | Liberal | Independent | Other | Turnout | Control | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Borders‡ | 0 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 1 | hold | Details | |
| Central‡ | 18 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | Gain | Details | |
| Dumfries and Galloway‡ | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 0 | hold | Details | |
| Fife‡ | 24 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | hold | Details | |
| Grampian‡ | 13 | 33 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | Hold | Details | |
| Highland‡ | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 37 | 0 | Hold | Details | |
| Lothian‡ | 26 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Gain | Details | |
| Orkney‡ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | Hold | Details | ||
| Shetland‡ | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | Hold | Details | ||
| Strathclyde‡ | 73 | 25 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Hold | Details | |
| Tayside‡ | 15 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | Hold | Details | |
| Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles)‡ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 0 | Hold | Details | |