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PRESSURE GROUPS

How do Pressure Groups influence Parliament?
What is a Pressure Group?

A pressure group is a group seeking to influence Government policy or business activity to secure the interests of their members and supporters.

The size of a pressure groups is not important. Many pressure groups start with a small amount of individuals but then move to thousands.

There are a variety of methods used by pressure groups which create influence. For example, there could be peaceful pressure groups like petitions or harmful pressure groups which create violence.

Pressure groups are most effective if they have media coverage or support which allows attention to be brought to them easily.

Two types of Pressure Groups

 

  • Sectional Pressure Groups

This type of pressure group represents a section of society/members. They exist to push forward the interest of a particular section of society. An example of a sectional pressure group is the National Union Of Teachers (NUT) & the National Farmers Union (NFU). Both these sectional pressure groups represent particular members within society.

 

The degree of influence that these pressure groups have rely on Government support. So, the larger the group the more support they are provided with as they represent a larger population. For example, the pressure groups the National Union Of Teachers consists of thousands of members. All the members help the pressure groups become wealthy which leads to electural support.

 

If a pressure group has direct access or route to MP's and into Parliament it suggests that there is a greater chance of being heard as well as to make influence on politicians to make changes in the law which the pressure groups are unhappy with.

 

  • Cause Pressure Groups

This type of pressure group represents a particular idea or belief. Here are some examples of cause pressure groups: RSPCA which is about animal welfare, Greenpeace which is about beliefs in looking after the environment and Fathers 4 Justice which relates to changes in the law around child access after divorce.

 

Smaller cause pressure groups are less likely to be consulted or to have Government links due to a lack of access to power this can usually result in these type of pressure groups being less influential.

How are individuals influential?

 

  • An example of an influential individual: Mary Whitehouse

 

Mary Whitehouse campaigned for decency in public broadcasting. She wanted to make sure that bad language and nudity didn't appear on TV or if it did, it could only be at a suitable time when young people couldn't hear or watch it. Due to this campaign/pressure group she had a direct infuence on the Protection of Childrens Act 1978. Mary Whitehouse as an individual had a huge amount of influence on Government legislation.

 

 

 

  • Another exmple of an influential individual: Jamie Oliver

 

Jamie Oliver had a direct influence on The Educational (Nutritional Standards for School Food) (England) Regulations 2007. Before this he campaigned about unhealthy school meals which created his influence on the change of education law.

Jamie Oliver had masses of media support during his campaign as he was famour before the campaign therefore brought his campaign into talks shows and TV programmes.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Pressure Groups as an influence on Parliament
Advantages
       
Disdvantages
       

One advantage of using pressure groups as an influence on Parliament is that its large membership allows them to influence voting largely as they are often larger than political parties.

 

Pressure groups consist of expertise. For example, RSPCA has a number of vets and welfare expertise where all members or people part of the main organisation are paid. The Government has to consultate the expertise to take on some form of animal welfare legislation. So, due to the amount of expertise provided by pressure groups they can become quite influential and powerful to Parliament.

 

Another advantage is that pressure groups increase parliamentary awareness. Frequently parliament is often removed from reality so pressure groups help raise parliament awareness by calling attention to a particular subject.

 

 

 

One disadvantage of using pressure groups as an influence on Parliament is that they only present a one sided argument. The aim on a pressure group is to change the law in a nature to suit an individual. For example, the Father 4 Justice pressure group is bias about their right to have child access after divorce. The bias might suggest that they dont listen to all sides of the argument in relation to the subject.

 

Another disadvantage is that pressure groups passionately hold their views which means they may present dodgy tactics. For example, in the Hunting Dogs Act, the pro-hunt and anti-hunt campaigns were both guilty of using violent tactics to beat their opponents. As they are driven by a passion they forget to act rationally to fit society.

 

The opinion provided by pressure groups are small of section. The population of people in the UK is around 60 million. In order to represent the majority many pressure groups would have to have 30 million members and they dont.

 

Some outside pressure groups have little or no contact with Parliament therefore they have a limited say about what happens within law making.

 

 

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