The second election to Lothian Regional Council was held on 2 May 1978 and saw Labour gaining a majority of the council's 49 seats amidst a Labour surge across Scotland. Stephen Maxwell, the SNP's vice-chairman, was a prominent victim of the Labour gains, losing his seat of Slateford/Hailes.[1]
Aggregate results
edit| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 26 | 53.06 | 40.3 | 100,455 | |||||
| Conservative | 18 | 36.73 | 33.2 | 82,841 | |||||
| SNP | 3 | 6.12 | 20.3 | 50,692 | |||||
| Liberal | 1 | 2.04 | 4.3 | 10,601 | |||||
| Independent | 1 | 2.04 | 1.5 | 3,709 | |||||
| Communist | 0 | 0.00 | 0.4 | 940 | |||||
Ward results
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | J. P. Mulvey | 2,272 | 39.23 | |
| SNP | S. Maxwell | 2,134 | 36.84 | |
| Conservative | D. Pountain | 1,386 | 23.93 | |
| Majority | 138 | 2.39 | ||
| Turnout | 5,792 | |||
| Labour gain from SNP | ||||