Andrew Little

Andrew James Little (born 7 May 1965) is a New Zealand politician. He has served as mayor of Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, since 17 October 2025. A lawyer and former trade union official, Little was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2014 to 2017 and a senior minister in the Labour governments led by Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins from 2017 to 2023, including as Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, Minister of Justice, Minister of Health and Minister of Defence. Little was first elected as a Labour Party list MP in 2011, after serving as President of the Labour Party between 2009 and 2011. His political career followed a career in unionism, which included 11 years as the national secretary of the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, New Zealand's largest private-sector union. Little's term as Labour leader was characterised by low opinion polling results and punctuated by his resignation from the role less than two months before he was due to lead the party in the 2017 general election. Little's decision was described as "selfless" and instrumental in Labour's success under new leader Jacinda Ardern; in the following six years he served as a senior minister and was regarded as a "safe pair of hands" across twelve ministerial portfolios.