- INFLUENCE
- There are many opportunities for them to influence the government/parliament.
- They can visit local MPs during their constituency surgery hours and encourage them to raise certain arguments in a debate, or to introduce a particular PMB.
- The government regularly uses consultations to invite opinions from interested members of the public and pressure groups.
- Select committees and public bill committees can invite pressure groups to give written and oral evidence, to better improve their scrutiny and recommendations.
- For example, in October 2015, the House of Commons Health Select Committee took evidence as part of an investigation into reducing childhood obesity.
- After many of the experts recommended the introduction of a “sugar tax”, the committee proposed this action, and, in his 2016 Budget, the Chancellor announced that such a tax will be levied from 2018.
2.TECHNOLOGY
- Modern technology can give even small, poorly funded campaigns a voice.
- With the rise of social media, even small, poorly funded pressure groups can launch a viral campaign, which can easily spread, educating and influencing the public.
- The internet also makes it easier for people to find others who share their concerns and can help them to coordinate their campaigns.
- 38 Degrees, for example, was established in 2009 and provides a forum for its members to quickly choose and launch their own online campaigns.
- Hillsborough Family Support Group/ Hillsborough Justice Campaign – the group was set up to demand a reopening of the case and to achieve justice – endorsed an e-petition, which gathered 130,000 signatures, demanding full disclosure of all relevant documents to an independent enquiry.
- Social media platforms like Twitter have helped democratise lobbying, as it is now easy for the public to contact their MPs, sharing their views and finding out those of their representatives.
3.GOVERNMENT
- Governments don’t just support groups that benefit them electorally.
- In 2013, David Cameron responded to the campaign for gay rights by introducing Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act, which introduced gay marriage.
- This policy was extremely divisive within the Conservative Party, with 136 voting against the bill, and another 40 abstaining, and also divisive amongst the party’s supporters.
- Similarly, in March 2016, the Government announced the new sugar tax, following a lengthy campaign by a number of medical and nutritional groups.
- The announcement was surprising because it had been reported that the Prime Minister was opposed to such a tax, as were large food businesses, and some Conservative supporters, who oppose ‘nanny state’ interventions.