UK Politics - Democracy And Participation - Pressure Groups

Question 1

What are the pressure group categories?

Answer 1

• sectional/interest
• insiders
• cause/promotional
• outsiders

Question 2

What do sectional/interest groups represent?

Answer 2

They represent the interests of a particular group in society e.g. the Muslim Council of Britain represents the interests of British Muslims

Question 3

What do cause/promotional pressure groups do?

Answer 3

They promote a particular issue e.g. Friends of the earth and liberty campaign on behalf of civil liberties in the UK

Question 4

What do insider pressure groups do?

Answer 4

They have privileged access to government decision making e.g. the British medical association represents doctors and so possesses specialist info the government will wish to consult

Question 5

What do outsider pressure groups do?

Answer 5

They do not possess access to political decision making and may be unprepared to work within existing political structures that they see as hopelessly compromised

Question 6

How does insider status help pressure groups achieve success?

Answer 6

In the 1970s, TU’s in Britain were so powerful that the secretary of transport and general workers’ union was once called the ‘most powerful man in Britain’. They are intern more likely to exert influence under the Labour government. Conversely, pressure groups that represent big businesses are more influential under conservative.
- nowadays, politicians are likely to consult environmental groups for specialist info e.g. HOC ‘eac’ consults with the green alliance

Question 7

How does social media help pressure groups achieve success?

Answer 7

Pressure groups can engage with the public e.g. Oxfam and Friends of the Earth use social media. Websites provide opportunities to donate and give information. Mobilising public support has been called ‘clickocracy’ e.g. 38 degrees was established in 2009 which provided a forum for members to launch their own campaign which will gain public attention

Question 8

How does wealth help pressure groups achieve success?

Answer 8

Financial resources are used to employ researchers close to important points of government access e.g. The CBI represents 190,000 UK businesses - its wealth has enabled it to employ more than 100 policy researchers

Question 9

How does celebrity influence help pressure groups achieve success?

Answer 9

It helps achieve popular recognition
- e.g. line eight (2005) was associated with Bob geldof and in 2009, Joanna Lumley supported the campaign for Gurkas to be granted full rights of residency, Marcus Rashford - endchildpoverty

Question 10

How does direct action help pressure groups achieve success?

Question 11

What pressure groups have been successful in the UK?

Answer 11

• smart motorways - the AA and the RAC were both critical of Johnson’s government plans to introduce smart motorways (where the hard shoulder is removed to increase capacity) they thought it increased driver risk
• free school meals - in 2020 lockdown, Marcus rashford supported children on free school meals who were deprived of this

Question 12

Why was motoring organisations and smart motorways successful

Answer 12

• in 2021, the RAC’s report on motoring survey showed that 54% of drivers believed that smart motorways made them less safe and along with the AA, the RAC provided specialist evidence to the Transport select committee. This caused the government to delay the building of them for 5 years until safety was assessed

Question 13

Why was Freeschoolmeals successful?

Answer 13

Rashford used his celebrity status and social media to advertise his business. He created an e-petition which received 1.1mn signatures and this growing momentum caused lots of MP’s to criticise the PM which led to the government providing a £120mn ‘covid summer food fund and a £170mn ‘winter grant scheme’

Question 14

What are two pressure groups that have failed?

Answer 14

• stop H2S - founded in 2010 in response to the decision to build a high speed rail link between London and Birmingham
• stop the war coalition - founded in 2001 in response to the ‘war on terror’ (Opposed Blair’s war in Iraq)

Question 15

Why was H2S unsuccessful?

Answer 15

• In 2013, MP’s voted 399 to 42 in favour of building the first stage and the HOL voted 386 to 26
• in 2020, although an epetition demanding a new parliamentary vote gained 155,253 signatures, support for London-Birmingham phase of HS2 meant that calls to scrap it could be ignored

Question 16

Why was the stop the war coalition unsuccessful?

Answer 16

Although the March against the War in Iraq was peaceful and impacted the public, Blair remained committed to the invasion and his large parliamentary majority and support of most of the Conservative Party also meant that when the HOC voted on military intervention in Iraq he had a 179-vote majority so he could ignore the protests
- Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has further reduced its influence with Keir starter condemning the coalition

Question 17

What are the other types of groups that can influence the government?

Question 18

What are think tanks?

Answer 18

They are made up of experts in a particular field who produce ideas that can form the basis for government policy making. Some of them are closely associated with a particular political ideology that helps them to achieve insider status

Question 19

What are lobbyists?

Answer 19

A lobbyists is paid by clients to try and influence the government and for MP’s and members of the HOL to act in their client’s interests, particularly when legislation in under consideration

Question 20

What are arguments to suggest that lobbyists enhance democracy?

Answer 20

• lobbyists open up the lines of communication between members of Parliament & groups that want to make their case. They are necessary to democracy as they broaden the debate so that all sides are heard e.g. the raptor alliance and the impact on gin legislation

Question 21

What are the arguments to suggest that lobbyists undermine democracy?

Answer 21

• major corporations and lobbying firms seek to influence decision making by cultivating links with politicians
• lobbying firms can also represent the interests of groups in society who are prepared to pay for their services and have thus been criticised for enabling powerful interests to try and buy influence. E.g. in 2010, three former labour ministers were suspended from the Labour Party when they were offered the chance to work for a fake consultancy firm for £5000 a day and they accepted
• in 2021, David Cameron was critiqued by the Treasury select committee ‘for a significant lack of judgement’ after he utilised his government contracts when lobbying on behalf of financial services company Greensill capital

Question 22

What roles did lobbyists play in Boris Johnson’s government?

Answer 22

Boris’ Johnson’s campaign was under Tory MP’s James Wharton who worked for a lobbying company which aimed to shape Brexit and had clients who would benefit from Brexit de-regulation. Boris Johnson had close connections to the rich and powerful, as well as people he employed such as Owen Paterson

Question 23

What is the Raptor Alliance and how did they gain influence?

Answer 23

The raptor alliance is a small organisation which represents pigeon fanciers - its members argue that the royal society for the protection of birds has been so successful in protecting birds of prey that it is killing off racing. They made their cause known in parliament by encouraging the establishment of an all-party parliamentary group for pigeon racing - Theresa may sponsored a bird

Question 24

What was the lobbyist impact on gin legislation

Answer 24

Since the gin act 1751, small scale production had been forbidden to stop bootlegging. However in 2008, lobbyists succeeded in having the gin act repealed and now boutique gin is becoming one of the UK’s most enterprising new exports

Question 25

What are examples of think tanks?

Answer 25

• Fabian Society
• institute for economic affairs (IEA)

Question 26

What are examples of lobbyists?

Question 27

What arguments suggest that pressure groups enhance democracy?

Answer 27

• they allow for specific interests to be heard which ensures democracy is upheld - equal voice e.g.

Question 28

What arguments suggest that pressure groups hinder democracy?

Question 29

What is the revolving door syndrome?

Question 30

How have corporations managed to lobby the government for money?