|
Mercedes Villalba
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. BackgroundVillalba 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 careerOn 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 beliefsShe 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] References
External links
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
