How can they be powerful

• How pressure groups can be powerful

  • Strength in numbers
  • Expert knowledge on their subject
  • Financially powerful
• Pressure group action/method of influence

  • Professional lobbying
  • Working with government (insider groups)
  • Lobbying MSPs
  • Mass media
  • Public petitions
  • Poster and leaflet campaign
  • Letter writing
  • Direct mailing
  • Peaceful marches/demonstrations
  • Non-violent direct action
  • Violent direct action
• Professional lobbying

  Paying professionals to lobby decision making
• Working with government (insider groups)

  Have access to information and are often called by the government to formulate policy
• Lobbying MSPs

  1. Usually takes place in conjunction with a petition or protest march

  2. MSPs meet representatives and listen to their arguments
• Specialist advice

  • Age UK gives advice to government about pensions, other benefits for elderly people and other matters affecting elderly people
• Professional lobbying


  • Businesses and trade unions such as the British Medical Association (BMA) have access to MSPs and lobby them for changes to law
• Lobbying MSPs

  • The Scottish council for single homeless lobbies parliamentary civil servants directly and takes part in committee meetings to work towards a long term policy on homelessness
• Mass media

  • When trade unions such as the EIS (the largest teachers' union) protest or strike the media often reports on the events
• Public petitions

  • More than 19,500 people signed Shelter's "Build Scotland's future" petition calling for 37,100 social homes to be built in the next 5 years
• Letter writing

  • Will by Mouth encourages people to write to the government to discourage sectarianism
• Poster and leaflet campaign

  • Scottish CND issues posters aimed at turning public opinion against nuclear weapons
• Direct mailing

  • Pressure groups such as the SSPCA can send mail to thousands of people to gain finance and support and raise awareness of their concerns
• Non-violent direct action

  • Civil disobedience; for example, peace protesters with CND blocking access to Faslane naval base
• Non-violent direct action


  • Extinction Rebellion (outsider group) - large scale protest, shut down roads, block events which will damage climate: breaking law in a non-violent way
• Non-violent direct action

  • School children attended to show the importance of youth participation
• Surfers Against Sewage

  • Write letters to politicians, publish reports of the problem of damaging Scottish water
• Surfers Against Sewage

  • Shows MSPs how many people support reports are persuasive to decision makers
• Surfers Against Sewage

  • The Scottish government has plans in place to introduce the deposit return scheme following SAS's campaign
• Time for Inclusive Education (TIE)

  • Lobbying (meet directly with MSPs)
• Time for Inclusive Education (TIE)


  • Decision makers and the group can debate or work together and compromise
• Time for Inclusive Education (TIE)


  • The TIE campaign won campaign of the year for their successful efforts to lobby MSPs