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.
|- !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