diff --git a/.changeset/khaki-badgers-watch.md b/.changeset/khaki-badgers-watch.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..50458cc63e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/khaki-badgers-watch.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab': patch
+---
+
+Improve error messages from Gitlab
diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabIssueCreate.ts b/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabIssueCreate.ts
index 3eaca95270..30aa2c3d8c 100644
--- a/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabIssueCreate.ts
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabIssueCreate.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import { examples } from './gitlabIssueCreate.examples';
 import { z } from 'zod';
 import { checkEpicScope, convertDate, getClient, parseRepoUrl } from '../util';
 import { CreateIssueOptions, IssueSchema } from '@gitbeaker/rest';
+import { getErrorMessage } from './helpers';
 
 const issueInputProperties = z.object({
   projectId: z.number().describe('Project Id'),
@@ -189,7 +190,9 @@ export const createGitlabIssueAction = (options: {
           });
         }
         // Handling other errors
-        throw new InputError(`Failed to create GitLab issue: ${error.message}`);
+        throw new InputError(
+          `Failed to create GitLab issue: ${getErrorMessage(error)}`,
+        );
       }
     },
   });
diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabIssueEdit.ts b/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabIssueEdit.ts
index d1f724c90c..34c8b1c5e7 100644
--- a/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabIssueEdit.ts
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabIssueEdit.ts
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import { examples } from './gitlabIssueEdit.examples';
 import { z } from 'zod';
 import { checkEpicScope, convertDate, getClient, parseRepoUrl } from '../util';
 import { IssueSchema, EditIssueOptions } from '@gitbeaker/rest';
+import { getErrorMessage } from './helpers';
 
 const editIssueInputProperties = z.object({
   projectId: z
@@ -237,7 +238,7 @@ export const editGitlabIssueAction = (options: {
         }
         // Handling other errors
         throw new InputError(
-          `Failed to edit/modify GitLab issue: ${error.message}`,
+          `Failed to edit/modify GitLab issue: ${getErrorMessage(error)}`,
         );
       }
     },
diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabMergeRequest.ts b/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabMergeRequest.ts
index ec9ae7317d..f2c6bd5723 100644
--- a/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabMergeRequest.ts
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabMergeRequest.ts
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ import {
   LoggerService,
   resolveSafeChildPath,
 } from '@backstage/backend-plugin-api';
-import { createGitlabApi } from './helpers';
+import { createGitlabApi, getErrorMessage } from './helpers';
 import { examples } from './gitlabMergeRequest.examples';
 import { createHash } from 'crypto';
 
@@ -235,7 +235,9 @@ which uses additional API calls in order to detect whether to 'create', 'update'
           assigneeId = assigneeUser[0].id;
         } catch (e) {
           ctx.logger.warn(
-            `Failed to find gitlab user id for ${assignee}: ${e}. Proceeding with MR creation without an assignee.`,
+            `Failed to find gitlab user id for ${assignee}: ${getErrorMessage(
+              e,
+            )}. Proceeding with MR creation without an assignee.`,
           );
         }
       }
@@ -272,7 +274,9 @@ which uses additional API calls in order to detect whether to 'create', 'update'
           });
         } catch (e) {
           ctx.logger.warn(
-            `Could not retrieve the list of files for ${repoID} (branch: ${targetBranch}) : ${e}`,
+            `Could not retrieve the list of files for ${repoID} (branch: ${targetBranch}) : ${getErrorMessage(
+              e,
+            )}`,
           );
         }
       }
@@ -327,7 +331,9 @@ which uses additional API calls in order to detect whether to 'create', 'update'
           await api.Branches.create(repoID, branchName, String(targetBranch));
         } catch (e) {
           throw new InputError(
-            `The branch creation failed. Please check that your repo does not already contain a branch named '${branchName}'. ${e}`,
+            `The branch creation failed. Please check that your repo does not already contain a branch named '${branchName}'. ${getErrorMessage(
+              e,
+            )}`,
           );
         }
       }
@@ -336,7 +342,9 @@ which uses additional API calls in order to detect whether to 'create', 'update'
           await api.Commits.create(repoID, branchName, title, actions);
         } catch (e) {
           throw new InputError(
-            `Committing the changes to ${branchName} failed. Please check that none of the files created by the template already exists. ${e}`,
+            `Committing the changes to ${branchName} failed. Please check that none of the files created by the template already exists. ${getErrorMessage(
+              e,
+            )}`,
           );
         }
       }
@@ -359,7 +367,9 @@ which uses additional API calls in order to detect whether to 'create', 'update'
         ctx.output('projectPath', repoID);
         ctx.output('mergeRequestUrl', mergeRequestUrl);
       } catch (e) {
-        throw new InputError(`Merge request creation failed${e}`);
+        throw new InputError(
+          `Merge request creation failed. ${getErrorMessage(e)}`,
+        );
       }
     },
   });
diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabPipelineTrigger.ts b/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabPipelineTrigger.ts
index b9f629edfb..a7edc12320 100644
--- a/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabPipelineTrigger.ts
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabPipelineTrigger.ts
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import { z } from 'zod';
 import commonGitlabConfig from '../commonGitlabConfig';
 import { getClient, parseRepoUrl } from '../util';
 import { examples } from './gitlabPipelineTrigger.examples';
+import { getErrorMessage } from './helpers';
 
 const pipelineInputProperties = z.object({
   projectId: z.number().describe('Project Id'),
@@ -109,7 +110,9 @@ export const createTriggerGitlabPipelineAction = (options: {
           });
         }
         // Handling other errors
-        throw new InputError(`Failed to trigger Pipeline: ${error.message}`);
+        throw new InputError(
+          `Failed to trigger Pipeline: ${getErrorMessage(error)}`,
+        );
       } finally {
         // Delete the pipeline token if it was created
         if (pipelineTokenResponse && pipelineTokenResponse.id) {
diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabRepoPush.ts b/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabRepoPush.ts
index c926fe2971..2275f605af 100644
--- a/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabRepoPush.ts
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/gitlabRepoPush.ts
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import path from 'path';
 import { ScmIntegrationRegistry } from '@backstage/integration';
 import { InputError } from '@backstage/errors';
 import { resolveSafeChildPath } from '@backstage/backend-plugin-api';
-import { createGitlabApi } from './helpers';
+import { createGitlabApi, getErrorMessage } from './helpers';
 import { examples } from './gitlabRepoPush.examples';
 
 /**
@@ -158,7 +158,9 @@ export const createGitlabRepoPushAction = (options: {
       } catch (e: any) {
         if (e.response?.statusCode !== 404) {
           throw new InputError(
-            `Failed to check status of branch '${branchName}'. Please make sure that branch already exists or Backstage has permissions to create one. ${e}`,
+            `Failed to check status of branch '${branchName}'. Please make sure that branch already exists or Backstage has permissions to create one. ${getErrorMessage(
+              e,
+            )}`,
           );
         }
       }
@@ -171,7 +173,9 @@ export const createGitlabRepoPushAction = (options: {
           await api.Branches.create(repoID, branchName, String(defaultBranch));
         } catch (e) {
           throw new InputError(
-            `The branch '${branchName}' was not found and creation failed with error. Please make sure that branch already exists or Backstage has permissions to create one. ${e}`,
+            `The branch '${branchName}' was not found and creation failed with error. Please make sure that branch already exists or Backstage has permissions to create one. ${getErrorMessage(
+              e,
+            )}`,
           );
         }
       }
@@ -188,7 +192,9 @@ export const createGitlabRepoPushAction = (options: {
         ctx.output('commitHash', commit.id);
       } catch (e) {
         throw new InputError(
-          `Committing the changes to ${branchName} failed. Please check that none of the files created by the template already exists. ${e}`,
+          `Committing the changes to ${branchName} failed. Please check that none of the files created by the template already exists. ${getErrorMessage(
+            e,
+          )}`,
         );
       }
     },
diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/helpers.ts b/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/helpers.ts
index 1d12a6d394..37f587c4d4 100644
--- a/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/helpers.ts
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-backend-module-gitlab/src/actions/helpers.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 import { parseRepoUrl } from '@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-node';
-import { InputError } from '@backstage/errors';
+import { ErrorLike, InputError, isError } from '@backstage/errors';
 import { Gitlab } from '@gitbeaker/node';
 import { ScmIntegrationRegistry } from '@backstage/integration';
 import { Resources } from '@gitbeaker/core';
@@ -48,3 +48,17 @@ export function createGitlabApi(options: {
     [tokenType]: token,
   });
 }
+
+interface GitlabError extends ErrorLike {
+  // Errors from Gitlab may also include a description field that contains additional info
+  description: string;
+}
+
+function isGitlabError(e: unknown): e is GitlabError {
+  return isError(e) && 'description' in e && typeof e.description === 'string';
+}
+
+export function getErrorMessage(e: unknown): string {
+  if (isGitlabError(e)) return `${e} - ${e.description}`;
+  return String(e);
+}