diff --git a/.changeset/thick-readers-invite.md b/.changeset/thick-readers-invite.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3da406ff05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/thick-readers-invite.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend': patch
+---
+
+Updated publish:gitlab:merge-request action to allow commit updates and deletes
diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlabMergeRequest.ts b/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlabMergeRequest.ts
index f717a7a0c6..17026cc895 100644
--- a/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlabMergeRequest.ts
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlabMergeRequest.ts
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ export const createPublishGitlabMergeRequestAction = (options: {
     branchName: string;
     targetPath: string;
     token?: string;
+    commitAction?: 'create' | 'delete' | 'update';
     /** @deprecated Use projectPath instead */
     projectid?: string;
   }>({
@@ -85,6 +86,13 @@ export const createPublishGitlabMergeRequestAction = (options: {
             type: 'string',
             description: 'The token to use for authorization to GitLab',
           },
+          commitAction: {
+            title: 'Commit action',
+            type: 'string',
+            enum: ['create', 'update', 'delete'],
+            description:
+              'The action to be used for git commit. Defaults to create.',
+          },
         },
       },
       output: {
@@ -148,7 +156,7 @@ export const createPublishGitlabMergeRequestAction = (options: {
       });
 
       const actions: Types.CommitAction[] = fileContents.map(file => ({
-        action: 'create',
+        action: ctx.input.commitAction ?? 'create',
         filePath: path.posix.join(ctx.input.targetPath, file.path),
         encoding: 'base64',
         content: file.content.toString('base64'),