Mercedes Villalba

Mercedes Villalba
MSP
Mercedes Villalba MSP
	Affirming in 2021
Member of the Scottish Parliament; for North East Scotland ; (1 of 7 Regional MSPs)
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 8 May 2021
Shadow Minister for Environment and Biodiversity
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 1 June 2021
Personal details
Born	1989 (age 34–35); Bristol, England
Political party	Scottish Labour

Mercedes Beatrice M. Villalba (born 1989) is a Scottish Labour politician who has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for North East Scotland since May 2021.

Background

Villalba was born in 1989,^[1] and is originally from Bristol, England. She settled in Dundee and was a shop steward with the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU).^[2]

Political career

On 7 May 2021 she was unsuccessful as Labour's candidate for Dundee City West,^[3] but the following day was elected as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) through the North East Scotland list.^[4] She was appointed as Shadow Minister for Environment and Biodiversity in June 2021.^[5]

In 2022, she called for the Labour whip to be restored to Jeremy Corbyn after having it suspended for failing to retract his remarks in response to the EHRC report into anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, as demanded by Keir Starmer and David Evans.^[6]

Political beliefs

She is an outspoken critic of the British royal family, and has called for its abolition.^[7]^[8]

On 6 July 2021, Villalba submitted a motion to demand an end to the US embargo on Cuba.^[9]

In October 2023, just after the Hamas attack on Israel, Villalba expressed her position on the Palestine-Israel conflict through social media. She tweeted that she perceives the "systematic oppression and domination of Palestinians by the Israeli government" as a "crime against humanity", advocating for an end to the occupation of Palestine as a precondition for peace and justice.^[10]