Mercedes Villalba | |
---|---|
Member of the Scottish Parliament for North East Scotland (1 of 7 Regional MSPs) | |
Assumed office 8 May 2021 | |
Shadow Minister for Environment and Biodiversity | |
Assumed office 1 June 2021 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Bristol, England, UK |
Political party | Scottish Labour |
Mercedes Villalba is a Scottish Labour politician who has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for North East Scotland since May 2021.
Villalba is originally from Bristol, England. She settled in Dundee and was a shop steward with the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU). [1]
On 7 May 2021 she was unsuccessful as Labour's candidate for Dundee City West, [2] but the following day was elected as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) through the North East Scotland list. [3] She was appointed as Shadow Minister for Environment and Biodiversity in June 2021. [4]
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. [5]
She is an outspoken critic of the British royal family, and has called for its abolition. [6] [7]
On 6 July 2021, Villalba submitted a motion to demand an end to the US embargo on Cuba. [8]
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. [9]