Mercedes Villalba

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 35–36) 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.^[1] She is currently Scottish Labour's Spokesperson for the Environment and Biodiversity^[2], a role she was appointed to in June 2021.^[3]

Villalba was born in 1989,^[4] and is originally from Bristol, England. She settled in Dundee and was a shop steward with the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU).^[5]

Mercedes Villalba is a member of Unite the Union and identifies herself as a socialist.^[6][7][8][9]Since she was first elected, Villalba has championed various causes, including workers’ rights, reducing inequality and promoting human rights globally.

Villalba has publicly supported left-wing policies such as a wealth tax^[10], a four-day working week^[11][12][13] and rent controls^[14].

In 2023, Villalba consulted on her Proposed Land Ownership and Public Interest (Scotland) Bill.^[15]

This private members’ bill proposed to introduce a presumed limit of 500 hectares on individual sales or transfers of land and on the aggregate amount of land any person can own. Additionally, the bill proposed to make land transfers over the 500-hectare limit subject to a public interest test.

Villalba has been a longtime advocate of the Palestinian cause. In October 2023, she described Israel's siege on the Gaza Strip and forcible ejection order as "ethnic cleansing".^[16] In January 2025, Villalba lodged a motion in the Scottish Parliament acknowledging Amnesty International’s Report accusing Israel of genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.^[17]

Mercedes Villalba was the Scottish Labour candidate for Dundee City West in the 2021 Scottish Parliament Election^[18] and a candidate on the North East regional list.^[19]

During Villalba’s election campaign, she was endorsed by the left-wing groups Momentum and the Campaign for Socialism. She was also supported by the Communication workers Union (CWU) and Unite the Union.^[20]

Villalba campaigned on various issues during the 2021 campaign such as the creation of a 24-hour mental health hub in Dundee, a national care service, rent controls, publicly owned electric buses and a 4-day working week.^[21]

Villalba was ultimately elected as a Member of the Scottish Parlaiment for the North East region alongside her colleague Michael Marra.^[22]

In the Scottish Parliament, Mercedes Villalba has regularly raised the issue of Palestine. In January 2025, Villalba raised concerns in the Scottish Parliament about the imprisonment of 5 activists following a non-violent protest at the Thales weapons factory in Glasgow, questioning the Government on discrepancies in the policing of protest.^[23]

In June 2025, Villalba delivered a speech in the Scottish Parliament condemning the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, characterising the situation in Gaza as a genocide, citing statements by Israeli officials and referencing arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court.^[24][25]

In October 2021, Mercedes Villalba led a Parliamentary debate calling for a worker-led transition in Scotland’s offshore energy sector. She highlighted the financial burden faced by offshore oil and gas workers seeking to transition into renewable energy roles, often having to duplicate training at personal expense due to a lack of standardised qualifications across the sector.^[26]

Citing examples of workers who had spent thousands of pounds on training, Villalba argued that a just transition must be underpinned by government action, not left to market forces.^[27]

The idea of a skills passport was later adopted by the Scottish government following lobbying from Villalba, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, and Unite the Union.^[28]

In June 2022, Mercedes Villalba became the first Member of the Scottish Parliament to argue for an emergency national rent freeze. Villalba proposed that the Scottish Government adopt the measure until permanent rent controls could be implemented but her amendment was rejected by the Scottish National Party, the Scottish Green Party, the Scottish Liberal Democrats, and the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party.^[29]

Villalba continued to campaign for her proposal alongside the tenants’ union Living Rent.^[30] In October 2022, the Scottish Government ultimately introduced an emergency rent freeze.^[31]

Speaking after joining University and College Union members on a picket line in Dundee on 12^th March 2025, Villalba raised concerns in the Scottish Parliament about 632 proposed job cuts at the University of Dundee.^[32]

One week later, Villalba questioned the Executive Group from University of Dundee during a Scottish Parliamentary committee session regarding the proposed cuts. She pressed University officials on their commitment to fairness and the Scottish Government’s Fair Work agenda, highlighting that the financial mismanagement cited as the cause of the crisis was not the fault of the staff whose jobs were at risk.^[33][34]

Mercedes Villalba strongly criticised the UK Conservative Government’s decision to use Section 35 of the Scotland Act to block the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.

Describing the move as a “cynical attack” on the principle of devolution, she argued that the bill had been passed by a two-thirds majority in the Scottish Parliament and followed six years of consultation.

Writing for the Morning Star, Villalba defended the bill’s aim to simplify and demedicalise the process for transgender people to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC). She rejected claims that the bill would undermine women’s rights, noting that similar reforms had been implemented in 18 other countries without issue. Villalba called on progressive voices to stand together rather than be divided by the culture war.^[35]

During the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Debate ‘Protecting Single-sex Spaces in the Public Sector’ in March 2025, Villalba argued that her MSP colleagues had failed to provide any evidence to prove that transgender people in single-sex spaces place women at risk.^[36]

In June 2023, Mercedes Villalba launched a consultation on her proposed Land Ownership and Public Interest (Scotland) Bill. The Bill aimed to address the entrenched concentration of land ownership in Scotland.

Villalba’s consultation received 568 responses, exceeding the replies from the Scottish Government’s own “Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation” consultation^{[37][38][39][40]}. The bill sought to introduce a presumed limit of 500 hectares on the amount of land any individual or entity could own or transfer. Any transaction exceeding this would be subject to a public interest test, designed to assess whether the proposed ownership would serve the broader needs of communities and the environment.^[41]

Villalba’s proposal recognised that just 432 landowners control 50% of Scotland’s privately owned rural land, a pattern that has persisted despite previous land reform efforts.^[42]

• Presumed limit on land ownership: A presumed limit of 500 hectares on land ownership, with exceptions only if a public interest test is passed.
• Strengthening regulation of Scotland’s land market: Expanding the Scottish Land Commission's regulatory powers including the power to oversee land sales/transfers and administering a public interest test.
• Creation of a public interest test for land sales/transfers: Required for land sales or transfers above the threshold, considering factors such as:
  • Environmental sustainability
  • Community benefit
  • Economic development
  • Cultural considerations

• Public interest for existing land holdings: Where concern exists with established land ownerships above the presumed limit, the Scottish Land Commission could decide that a public interest test is warranted.

• Transparency measures: Strengthening the regulation of land sales and transfers to ensure transparency and introducing all land to the Valuation Roll, to ensure that ownership data is publicly available.^[43]

Villalba’s proposal drew on research from the Scottish Land Commission, Common Weal, and the Just Transition Commission, which highlighted how diversified land use could create tens of thousands of jobs in forestry, housing, and land management. It also emphasised the need to ensure that benefits from carbon sequestration are equally distributed, rather than enriching a small number of large landowners.^[44]

The bill has contributed significantly to the national debate on land reform and placed pressure on the Scottish Government to consider more radical measures in its own legislative agenda.^[45]

• Scottish Parliament profiles of MSPs: Mercedes Villalba