Emma Little-Pengelly (born 31 December 1979) is a Northern Irish barrister and

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by J ...

(DUP) politician. She has been a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

(MLA) for

Lagan Valley The Lagan Valley (, Ulster Scots: ''Glen Lagan'') is an area of Northern Ireland between Belfast and Lisburn. The River Lagan rises on Slieve Croob in County Down and flows generally northward discharging into Belfast Lough. For a section, the ri ...

since 12 May 2022 when she was co-opted to replace DUP party leader Sir

Jeffrey Donaldson Sir Jeffrey Mark Donaldson (born 7 December 1962) is a Northern Irish politician who has served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) since June 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lagan Valley since 1997, and leade ...

who declined to take up his seat after being elected at the

2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on 5 May 2022. It elected 90 members to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It was the seventh assembly election since the establishment of the assembly in 1998. The election was held three month ...

to remain in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

. She previously served as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for the Belfast South constituency in the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 ...

from 2017 until

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, when she lost her seat to

Claire Hanna Claire Aisling Hanna (born 19 June 1980) is an Irish Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) politician from Northern Ireland. In December 2019, she was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Belfast South in the House of Commons. Previous ...

of the

SDLP The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Irela ...

, and as an MLA for the Belfast South constituency in the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameral , house1 = , leader1_type = S ...

Early life and career

Little-Pengelly is the daughter of Maureen Elizabeth Little and the loyalist Noel Little. He was absent from her childhood between the ages of nine and eleven, following his arrest in Paris. Little-Pengelly was educated at

Markethill High School Markethill High School is a secondary school located in Markethill, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The school caters for 11- to 16-year-olds and currently has 490 pupils. It is within the Southern Education and Library Board Education in ...

Portadown College Portadown College is an academically selective, co-educational post-14 grammar school in Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. History Preparatory Department Portadown College Preparatory Department was founded in 1921 as the Carl ...

and

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

. She qualified as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and givin ...

in 2003. She was also a

tutor TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in ...

and lectured at the

University of Ulster sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...

from 2004 to 2006.

Political career

Little-Pengelly began her political career in 2007 as Special Advisor (Spad) to the Reverend Ian Paisley, while he was in the office of

First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of '' ...

, where she worked as part of the DUP talks team with victims of

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

. Little-Pengelly remained in the position of Special Advisor when Peter Robinson assumed the office of First Minister in 2008 until 2015 after over 8 years in the position. Little-Pengelly succeeded

Jimmy Spratt James Andrew Spratt (19 August 1951 – 4 March 2021) was a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician and police officer from Northern Ireland. He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Belfast from 2007 to 2015. Earl ...

as MLA for Belfast South in the

in 2015, following his retirement due to ill health. On 28 October 2015, Little-Pengelly was appointed as a junior minister in the Northern Ireland Executive Office. Little-Pengelly ran in the 2016 Assembly Election in the South Belfast constituency and was elected. She was appointed Chairperson of the Finance Committee following this election. She lost her seat at the

2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Thursday, 2 March 2017. The election was held to elect members ( MLAs) following the resignation of deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness in protest over the Renewable Heat Incentive sc ...

, as the total number of seats in Belfast South was reduced from 6 to 5, trailing her running mate

Christopher Stalford Christopher David Matthew Stalford (17 January 1983 – 19 February 2022) was a Northern Irish politician who was a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for South Belfast from the 2016 election until h ...

by 15 votes at the time of her elimination. At the

2017 UK general election The 2017 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 8 June 2017, two years after the previous general election in 2015; it was the first since 1992 to be held on a day that did not coincide with any local elections. The governing C ...

, Little-Pengelly became the MP for Belfast South, gaining the seat from the

Alasdair McDonnell Dr Alasdair McDonnell (born 1 September 1949) is an Irish politician who is a member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and was its leader from 2011 to 2015. He was the Member of Parliament for Belfast South from 2005 to 2017 and ...

. The former Northern Ireland

Peter Robinson was the chief strategist behind Little-Pengelly's campaign. She subsequently lost the seat to the

at the 2019 general election. On 12 May 2022, one week after the Northern Ireland Assembly election, DUP leader

refused to take his seat in Stormont due to his opposition to the

Northern Ireland Protocol The Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, commonly abbreviated to the Northern Ireland Protocol, is a protocol to the Brexit withdrawal agreement that governs the unique customs and immigration issues at the border on the island of Ireland betw ...

. Little-Pengelly was co-opted to replace him, saying, "I have agreed to fill onaldson'sseat in Lagan Valley at this time both to support this work and to ensure a continued high level of support and service to the constituents of Lagan Valley. It is a privilege to be asked to fulfil this role at this important time for unionism and for Northern Ireland. While Sir Jeffrey focuses on that immediate task, I look forward to serving the people of Lagan Valley with passion and commitment."

Personal life

Little-Pengelly is married to Richard Pengelly, CB, who is the

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior civil servant of a department or ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are the non-political civil ...

at the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

in Northern Ireland. She has three stepchildren from Pengelly's first marriage.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Little-Pengelly, Emma 1979 births Living people British female MPs Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Barristers from Northern Ireland UK MPs 2017–2019 Democratic Unionist Party MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Belfast constituencies (since 1922) Junior ministers of the Northern Ireland Assembly (since 1999) Democratic Unionist Party MLAs Northern Ireland MLAs 2011–2016 Northern Ireland MLAs 2016–2017 Academics of Ulster University Harvard Kennedy School alumni Female members of the Northern Ireland Assembly Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Northern Irish constituencies Women lawyers from Northern Ireland People educated at Markethill High School 21st-century women politicians from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland MLAs 2022–2027