diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index c8748151b1c..e34312bb37c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 Please view this file on the master branch, on stable branches it's out of date.
 
 v 8.12.0 (unreleased)
+  - Prepend blank line to `Closes` message on merge request linked to issue (lukehowell)
   - Filter tags by name !6121
   - Make push events have equal vertical spacing.
   - Add two-factor recovery endpoint to internal API !5510
diff --git a/app/services/merge_requests/build_service.rb b/app/services/merge_requests/build_service.rb
index 290742f1506..e57791f6818 100644
--- a/app/services/merge_requests/build_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/merge_requests/build_service.rb
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ module MergeRequests
         closes_issue = "Closes ##{iid}"
 
         if merge_request.description.present?
-          merge_request.description += closes_issue.prepend("\n")
+          merge_request.description += closes_issue.prepend("\n\n")
         else
           merge_request.description = closes_issue
         end
diff --git a/spec/services/merge_requests/build_service_spec.rb b/spec/services/merge_requests/build_service_spec.rb
index 232508cda23..0d586e2216b 100644
--- a/spec/services/merge_requests/build_service_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/merge_requests/build_service_spec.rb
@@ -99,14 +99,14 @@ describe MergeRequests::BuildService, services: true do
         let(:source_branch) { "#{issue.iid}-fix-issue" }
 
         it 'appends "Closes #$issue-iid" to the description' do
-          expect(merge_request.description).to eq("#{commit_1.safe_message.split(/\n+/, 2).last}\nCloses ##{issue.iid}")
+          expect(merge_request.description).to eq("#{commit_1.safe_message.split(/\n+/, 2).last}\n\nCloses ##{issue.iid}")
         end
 
         context 'merge request already has a description set' do
           let(:description) { 'Merge request description' }
 
           it 'appends "Closes #$issue-iid" to the description' do
-            expect(merge_request.description).to eq("#{description}\nCloses ##{issue.iid}")
+            expect(merge_request.description).to eq("#{description}\n\nCloses ##{issue.iid}")
           end
         end