[1] The elections took place when the Labour government of James Callaghan was extremely unpopular, with a subsequent collapse in the party's vote.

It was intended that elections would normally take place on a four-year cycle, but as an interim measure the first two sets of district councils had terms of three years: 1974–77 and 1977–80.

There was a large swing against Labour, who lost control of a number of councils in the industrial Central Belt where it had dominated local politics for decades.

[1] While they lost seats to the Scottish National Party in Glasgow and the industrial belt, the anti-Labour mood favoured the Conservatives in Edinburgh and the Liberals in Aberdeen and Inverclyde.

This election was also the first serious test of the new Scottish Labour Party of Jim Sillars which did not do well outside his South Ayrshire base, only winning three seats.