Emma Little-Pengelly

Emma Little-Pengelly MLA
Little-Pengelly in 2024
Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 February 2024 Serving with Michelle O'Neill
Monarch	Charles III
Preceded by	Michelle O'Neill
Member of the Legislative Assembly for Lagan Valley
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 May 2022
Preceded by	Paul Rankin
Member of Parliament for Belfast South
In office 8 June 2017 – 6 November 2019
Preceded by	Alasdair McDonnell
Succeeded by	Claire Hanna
Junior Minister Assisting the First Minister
In office 28 October 2015 – 25 May 2016 Serving with Jennifer McCann
First Minister	Peter Robinson
Preceded by	Michelle McIlveen
Succeeded by	Alastair Ross
Member of the Legislative Assembly for Belfast South
In office 28 September 2015 – 25 January 2017
Preceded by	Jimmy Spratt
Succeeded by	Seat abolished
Personal details
Born	Mary Emma Little[1][better source needed] (1979-12-31) 31 December 1979 (age 44) Markethill, County Armagh, Northern Ireland
Nationality	British
Political party	Democratic Unionist
Spouse	Richard Pengelly ​ (m. 2014)​
Children	3 stepchildren
Residence(s)	Belfast, County Antrim
Alma mater	Queen's University Belfast
Profession	Barrister[2]

Mary Emma Little-Pengelly (née Little; born 31 December 1979)^[3] is a Northern Irish barrister and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician^[4] serving as the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland since February 2024. She has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley since May 2022, when she was co-opted (appointed) to replace then-DUP party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, who declined to take up his seat following the 2022 election.^[5][6]

She previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) 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,^[7] and as an MLA for the Belfast South constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.