Mercedes Villalba | |
---|---|
![]() Affirming in 2021 | |
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 | 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.
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]
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]
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]
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