Hansard

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

25 Mar 2026

Portfolio Question Time · Adult Disability Payment (Mental and Behavioural Disorders)

A constituent of mine said:“I’ve been begging repeatedly for months for them to process my ADP claim, only to be ignored, told to contact charities or completely brushed off. We frequently go hungry due to severe financial hardship because I cannot afford to pay for essentials...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

25 Mar 2026

Portfolio Question Time · Community Right to Buy Review

How will the recommendations in the community right to buy review strengthen existing mechanisms or create new support mechanisms so that more communities can take ownership of their land? Is it likely that an amending bill will be needed, next session?

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

24 Mar 2026

Climate Change Plan

I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement. I welcome Scotland’s new climate change plan, which is of crucial importance for workers and communities in the North East Scotland region that I have been so privileged to represent for the past five years.Howe...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

19 Mar 2026

Visitor Levy (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I would like to question whether proper procedures have been followed in relation to the requirement, under standing orders, that any member who has a declarable interest in any matter declares that interest before taking part in any pro...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

19 Mar 2026

Portfolio Question Time · Oil and Gas Supply Chain (Job Losses)

The energy transition for workers in the oil and gas supply chain must be a truly just transition. It is therefore particularly concerning that approval of Rosebank might risk breaching international law due to Ithaca Energy being majority controlled by the Delek Group, which ...

Mercedes Villalba Lab Chamber

05 Mar 2026

Draft Climate Change Plan

Will the member take an intervention?

Mercedes Villalba Lab Chamber

05 Mar 2026

Draft Climate Change Plan

That will require innovative redistributive plans for how we decarbonise and transition, along with transformative workforce planning, which means that workers and families will benefit from the just transition. We must be steadfast in our opposition to decarbonisation by dein...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

05 Mar 2026

Draft Climate Change Plan

The draft climate change plan was developed around the principle of decarbonising our society and economy to meet Scotland’s net zero goals. Although the plan is a welcome and crucial step to decarbonising our economy, there remains a real risk that Government and business wil...

Mercedes Villalba Lab Chamber

04 Mar 2026

Banking Charges for Charities and Not-for-profit Organisations

I thank Liam Kerr for taking the intervention. I will make it brief.On the point about the banks having benefited from the bailout, does Liam Kerr agree that that means that they now have a moral obligation to guarantee the Scottish public a public service that benefits people...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

04 Mar 2026

Banking Charges for Charities and Not-for-profit Organisations

Will Liam Kerr take an intervention?

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

04 Mar 2026

Portfolio Question Time · “Who Owns Scotland 2025”

The “Who Owns Scotland 2025” report shows that only 2.8 per cent of rural land in Scotland is owned by community groups. The Scottish Government can do far more to make community ownership of land easier. The cabinet secretary mentioned some financial support, which could go f...

Mercedes Villalba Lab Chamber

03 Mar 2026

Topical Question Time · Middle East Conflict (Scottish Airports)

I thank the cabinet secretary for his response and remind him that, in 2024, following public pressure and intervention from the then First Minister Humza Yousaf, the Scottish Government confirmed that Scottish Government-owned Prestwick airport had taken the decision not to c...

Mercedes Villalba Lab Chamber

03 Mar 2026

Topical Question Time · Middle East Conflict (Scottish Airports)

I thank the cabinet secretary for his response. I also welcomed the First Minister’s statement yesterday, which questioned whether the US and Israel have abided by the international rules-based system with their strikes on Iran. I am pleased to hear the cabinet secretary repea...

2. Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

03 Mar 2026

Topical Question Time · Middle East Conflict (Scottish Airports)

To ask the Scottish Government whether Scottish publicly owned infrastructure, such as Prestwick or Wick John O’Groats airports, has been used by the US Air Force for the recent strikes on Iran. (S6T-02933)

Mercedes Villalba Lab Chamber

26 Feb 2026

Portfolio Question Time · Wave Energy Scotland (Funding)

Will the cabinet secretary meet workers and their union—the Public and Commercial Services Union—to hear their concerns?

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

26 Feb 2026

Portfolio Question Time · Wave Energy Scotland (Funding)

In a statement to the press, the Scottish Government said that it is“working closely with Wave Energy Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and other partners to sustain operations while future alternative sources of funding are identified.”However, workers at Wave Energy...

Mercedes Villalba Lab Chamber

26 Feb 2026

First Minister’s Question Time · University of Aberdeen(Proposed Strike Action)

Just two years after strike action was averted, thanks to trade union negotiation, UCU members at the University of Aberdeen have voted overwhelmingly in support of industrial action. They voted in defence of their jobs, their workplace and their students’ learning conditions,...

6. Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

26 Feb 2026

First Minister’s Question Time · University of Aberdeen(Proposed Strike Action)

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the outcome of the University of Aberdeen UCU ballot, which resulted in 83 per cent of those voting in support of strike action and 90 per cent in favour of action short of a strike. (S6F-04709)

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

24 Feb 2026

Topical Question Time · River Dochart (Diesel Pollution)

According to news reports, SEPA confirmed that a specialist clean-up contractor was working to reduce the environmental impacts of the spill. That is the latest in a long line of outsourcing decisions taken by the environmental regulator, and it comes at a time when other publ...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

17 Feb 2026

Freedom of Information Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I begin by thanking my friend and comrade Katy Clark for taking up the challenge of reforming our freedom of information laws to be fit for the 21st century. The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 was significant in that it gave everyone the right to obtain information...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

11 Feb 2026

Nature Champions

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. By popular demand, I rise to advocate for the vital and exciting habitat of road verges—vital because they provide refuge for all manner of plants, animals, fungi and insect species, and exciting because, taken together, road verges cover a...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

11 Feb 2026

Portfolio Question Time · Tree Planting (2025-26 Targets)

I apologise for being late to the chamber today, Presiding Officer.What proportion of the trees planted towards the target have been, or will be, native broadleaf species rather than invasive non-native species such as Sitka spruce?

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

29 Jan 2026

Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

::Throughout the passage of the bill, I have consistently made the case that it should seek not simply to prevent further degradation of the natural environment but to restore and regenerate it, because Governments have repeatedly failed to meet their environmental targets, fa...

Mercedes Villalba Lab Chamber

28 Jan 2026

Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Again, I am grateful for the minister’s support and hope that members will be able to support amendment 40, which I will press.

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

28 Jan 2026

Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Amendment 40 would provide a new regulation-making power in the Forestry and Land Management (Scotland) Act 2018 in relation to sustainable forest management. Members may remember that, at stage 2, I lodged a number of forestry amendments covering three key areas: deer overgr...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

28 Jan 2026

MV Bella 1

As the First Minister has outlined, for well over two weeks the Marinera and the vessel’s crew were in Scottish waters in Scottish legal jurisdiction. This week, the US Coast Guard has removed the tanker’s captain and first officer from UK waters. The Scottish Government claim...

Mercedes Villalba Lab Chamber

27 Jan 2026

Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

The cabinet secretary seems to be mixing herself up with her colleague. She is absolutely right to say that I met Ms Gougeon to discuss amendments to part 4 that I lodged at stage 2. I worked with her on them, and I have brought my proposal back at stage 3 in the form of amend...

Mercedes Villalba Lab Chamber

27 Jan 2026

Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I start by discussing some of the other amendments in this group that are of particular note. Scottish Labour will support Mark Ruskell’s amendment 141. Swift nest boxes are vital in order to restore swift populations, so I thank Mark Ruskell for championing the issue and the...

Mercedes Villalba Lab Chamber

27 Jan 2026

Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I am grateful for the cabinet secretary’s support for my amendment 70. To take her back to amendments 46 and 47, she referred to the policy memorandum as a basis for rejecting those amendments. However, the bill clearly says that one of the topics is “the condition or exte...

Mercedes Villalba Lab Chamber

27 Jan 2026

Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?

Mercedes Villalba Lab Chamber

27 Jan 2026

Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

The cabinet secretary said that the amendments are not necessary because their provisions are already covered in the bill. Condition and extent are covered as a target topic, but they are covered together. The bill refers to “condition or extent”, not condition and extent. Tha...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

27 Jan 2026

Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I have three amendments in the group. Amendments 46 and 47 seek to separate the target topic of habitat condition and habitat extent into two distinct topics. I am concerned that the bill allows for one or the other to be sufficient to meet a target, rather than requiring both...

Mercedes Villalba Lab Chamber

22 Jan 2026

Future Farming Investment Scheme

I thank the minister for his intervention, but, as the motion for debate points out, although, in theory, the scheme“was targeted towards islanders, new entrants, young farmers and tenant farmers”,in practice, it has failed to deliver for small farmers. In some areas, 93.9 per...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

22 Jan 2026

Future Farming Investment Scheme

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer—I am grateful for the opportunity to take part remotely this evening. I congratulate Liam McArthur on securing cross-party support for his motion and thank him for bringing the debate to the chamber.I start my contribution for Labour by payi...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

22 Jan 2026

General Question Time · Town Centres (Abandoned and Derelict Premises)

The regeneration of Aberdeen’s Union Street has been hindered by poor planning from the start—an issue compounded by the outsourcing of the work by the Scottish National Party-led Aberdeen City Council. That resulted in the closure of numerous shops and small businesses and ca...

Mercedes Villalba Lab Chamber

21 Jan 2026

Portfolio Question Time · Future Farm Policy (Climate and Biodiversity Targets)

—who engage in sustainable deer management solutions?

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

21 Jan 2026

Portfolio Question Time · Future Farm Policy (Climate and Biodiversity Targets)

Vast amounts of money awarded under the future farming investment scheme have been hoovered up by large agricultural landowners and mega farms—the kind of wealthy farms that can afford to use deer fencing, leaving smaller, less wealthy farms that cannot afford it even more vul...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

20 Jan 2026

Topical Question Time · United States Tariffs

According to research from the Common Wealth think tank, Scotland has one of the most foreign-owned economies in Europe. Dependence on overseas direct investment not only bleeds Scotland of the wealth required to fund our public services but pressures Scottish politicians, suc...

Mercedes Villalba Lab Chamber

15 Jan 2026

Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill

Edward Mountain makes an important point. It is incumbent on all of us to keep campaigning and encouraging as many member states as possible to sign up so that we can have that international working, which is what is needed, because the ocean is common to us all. Members wi...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

15 Jan 2026

Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill

Marine environmental and biodiversity protection is a worldwide challenge in which boundaries and borders have no relevance, which is why it is so important that the UK plays its part in protecting biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction and honours its international commitm...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

15 Jan 2026

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

I begin by reiterating my support for the motion and my gratitude to the thousands of firefighters and support staff who keep my constituents, and all of us, safe. Securing meaningful and sustained funding for the fire service is a crucial issue for the North East Scotland re...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

08 Jan 2026

First Minister’s Question Time · Wick John O’Groats Airport (US Military Operations)

The First Minister has said that he cannot see how international law has been respected by the United States in its military intervention in Venezuela, and has said that the “international community must now ensure that de-escalation, diplomacy and democracy” follow. Althoug...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

18 Dec 2025

First Minister’s Question Time · Renewable Energy Infrastructure (Local Authorities)

As the First Minister just said, Scotland is an energy-rich nation, so surely revenues from our natural resources should benefit us all, yet the ScotWind auction round massively undervalued Scotland’s offshore energy resources by setting a bid ceiling. Similar auctions held at...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

17 Dec 2025

Recognising Small Business Saturday 2025

Does the member also recognise that one part of the culture that people come from is the public services that we all rely on, including roads, street lighting, street cleaning, schools and healthcare, all of which rely on taxation, and that we need both?

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

17 Dec 2025

Portfolio Question Time · Future Farming Investment Scheme (North East Scotland)

Farmers in the north-east have expressed concern that the Scottish Government is dragging its feet in reforming and rebasing agricultural support, such as that provided through the future farming investment scheme and the less favoured area support scheme. That means that youn...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

16 Dec 2025

Aphasia Awareness

I am grateful to my constituents who volunteer at Speakability Tayside, who contacted me ahead of tonight’s debate. Does Ms Mochan agree that something that we can all do to support people with language disabilities, such as those she has outlined, is to undertake the free one...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

11 Dec 2025

Portfolio Question Time · Energy Profits Levy (North-east Impact)

Since its introduction, the energy profits levy has raised more than £11 billion for the public purse and is forecast to raise a further £11 billion by 2030, redistributing excessive profits from energy giants to those struggling in fuel poverty, including in the north-east re...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

11 Dec 2025

First Minister’s Question Time · Prisoners (Palestine Action)

Seven prisoners who are in their second month on hunger strike are now at risk of death due to their deteriorating health. They are part of a larger group of political prisoners who are being held under special terrorism conditions due to alleged association with the proscribe...

Mercedes Villalba Lab Committee

10 Dec 2025

Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

I thank the cabinet secretary for her detailed response to my amendments in this group. As I said in my opening remarks, it may be that some of the work that my amendments seek to bring about is already being undertaken or is at least possible in the current legislative lands...

Mercedes Villalba Lab Committee

10 Dec 2025

Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

I am happy to agree with the member on that point. As I have said, the amendment seeks to address the risk of displacing the problem instead of its being tackled. It is not saying that all deer fencing is a problem, in and of itself, but that alone, and without other measures,...

Mercedes Villalba Lab Committee

10 Dec 2025

Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Sure.

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Committee

10 Dec 2025

Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Good morning. I want to start by thanking the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Parliament’s legislation team for their support in drafting these amendments. I have 17 amendments in this group, covering three areas: deer overgrazing, urban afforestation and sustainable fores...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

10 Dec 2025

Portfolio Question Time · Oil and Gas Jobs (North-East)

Modelling by Uplift shows how new oil and gas licensing does not and cannot lead to new jobs in the north-east because, over the past decade, hundreds of new licences were awarded, but jobs in the sector still halved. What is the Scottish Government doing to support Labour-fou...

Mercedes Villalba Lab Chamber

04 Dec 2025

Portfolio Question Time · English for Speakers of Other Languages (Protests against Adult Classes in Schools)

—and not attacking our hard-working friends and neighbours?

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

04 Dec 2025

Portfolio Question Time · English for Speakers of Other Languages (Protests against Adult Classes in Schools)

Seaton primary school in my region has been the target of anti-migrant disruption twice in the past week alone. Successive Governments have allowed the poor to get poorer while the rich get richer. However, once again, it is migrants who are being blamed. Does the minister agr...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

04 Dec 2025

First Minister’s Question Time · Offshore Workers (Health and Safety)

Last week, fossil fuel giant Shell UK was fined more than £500,000 after pleading guilty to two offences following a Health and Safety Executive investigation into its Brent Charlie platform. That was a potentially catastrophic incident that put the lives of more than 175 offs...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

26 Nov 2025

Gender Identity Clinics (Waiting Times)

I put on record my thanks to Patrick Harvie for lodging the motion so that we can have this debate in the chamber. I will use my time to raise a constituency case with the minister. I have raised it with her in the past, but it is important to get the details on the record, b...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

26 Nov 2025

Portfolio Question Time · NatureScot Species Licensing Review

Our public money is being spent on mitigating the environmental damage caused by polluting private companies. We cannot afford to go on like this. It is therefore welcome that NatureScot is exploring the potential to apply the principle of cost recovery in its species licensin...

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

25 Nov 2025

Business Motions

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. My app would not connect. I would have voted yes.

Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

20 Nov 2025

Offshore Wind

I thank the minister for advance sight of her statement. Continued uncertainty and chaotic decision making from private offshore renewables developers are harming workers and communities in the North East Scotland region. The mismanagement of UK oil and gas revenues by the pr...