1. Emma Little-Pengelly is a Northern Irish barrister and Democratic Unionist Party politician serving as the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland since February 2024.
17 Facts About Emma Little-Pengelly
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Emma Little-Pengelly has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Lagan Valley since May 2022, when she was co-opted to replace then-DUP party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, who declined to take up his seat following the 2022 election.
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Emma Little-Pengelly previously served as the Member of Parliament for the Belfast South constituency in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 2017 until 2019, when she lost her seat to Claire Hanna of the SDLP, and as an MLA for the Belfast South constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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Emma Little-Pengelly's father was a leader of the loyalist paramilitary group Ulster Resistance and a former Ulster Defence Regiment soldier.
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Emma Little-Pengelly was absent from her childhood for two years, following his arrest in Paris in April 1989.
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Emma Little-Pengelly was educated at Markethill High School, Portadown College and Queen's University Belfast.
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Emma Little-Pengelly began her political career in 2007 as Special Advisor to the Reverend Ian Paisley, while he was in the office of First Minister, where she worked as part of the DUP talks team with victims of the Troubles.
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Emma Little-Pengelly remained in the position of Special Advisor when Peter Robinson assumed the office of First Minister in 2008 until 2015 after over eight years in the position.
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In 2015, Emma Little-Pengelly was chosen by the DUP to replace Jimmy Spratt as MLA for Belfast South in the Northern Ireland Assembly, following his retirement due to ill health.
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On 28 October 2015, Emma Little-Pengelly was appointed as a junior minister in the Northern Ireland Executive Office.
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Emma Little-Pengelly ran in the 2016 Assembly Election in the South Belfast constituency and was elected.
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Emma Little-Pengelly lost her seat at the 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election, as the total number of seats in Belfast South was reduced from 6 to 5, trailing her running mate Christopher Stalford by 15 votes at the time of her elimination.
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At the 2017 UK general election, Emma Little-Pengelly was elected MP for Belfast South, gaining the seat from the SDLP's Alasdair McDonnell.
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Emma Little-Pengelly later lost the seat to the SDLP's Claire Hanna at the 2019 general election.
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On 3 February 2024, Emma Little-Pengelly became deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland following the reestablishment of the Northern Ireland Executive.
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Emma Little-Pengelly's appointment marked the first time a unionist occupied the office of deputy First Minister.
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Emma Little-Pengelly is married to Richard Pengelly CB, who is the Chief Executive of the Education Authority in Northern Ireland.