Politics paper 1 evidence

• Youth interests currently ignored, responsibilities without rights

  -       Higher political engagement, Scotland has lower voting age

  -       But immature voters
• Rights and freedoms – police able to arrest protesters

  -       115 from just stop oil in 2023

  -       Govt wants to replace HRA
• Compulsory voting:

  -       Voting is a social duty as well as a right

  -       Produce a parliament that is more representative of population

  -       Politicians must run better quality campaigns and have more views in mind

  -       Voters not obliged to vote for one of candidates (spoilt ballot)
• Voluntary voting:

  -       May lead to voting in rank order

  -       Undemocratic to make people participate

  -       Not stop politicians focusing campaign on marginal seats

  -       Doesn’t address deeper issues of what people don’t vote
• Current law on prisoner voting – blanket ban protecting convicted prisoners from voting in UK elections, compromise in 2017 allowing some prisoners to vote. ‘Only prisoners wearing an electronic tag or who are out on temporary licence are allowed to vote’.
• Yes to prisoner voting:

  -       Should be decided separately, it is arbitrary

  -       Prisoners are still humans, they have rights

  -       Prisoners equally need to be represented (overcrowding)
• No to prisoner voting:

  -       Have no respect for society and so should not be trusted to vote responsibly

  -       ‘civic death’ so lose rights of citizens

  -       Will cost taxpayer administration costs
• yes to lowering voting age: Responsibilities without rights – can get married, join army

  Youth interests ignored – lack of political representation

  Stronger political engagement – re-engage younger voters

  Irrational cut-off age – ignored rise in education standards
• No to lowering the voting age: Immature voters – most still live with parents

  Preserving ‘childhood’ – forcing adult responsibilities

  Deferred representation – not permanently declined only temporary

  Undermining turnout – younger voters less likely to vote
• -       Do not seek governmental power

  -       Try to influence decisions

  -       Influence details of decisions and implementation

  -       Operate on a relatively narrow range of issues

  -       Operate at different levels of government

  -       Operate in law courts
•  

  Distinctions between pressure groups and political parties – parties seeks to achieve power, parties have to take accountability, pressure groups have more narrow concerns, pressure groups only enter parliament for publicity reasons, parties have to conduct themselves in a responsible way.
• Core functions of pressure groups:

  -       Can improve quality of policy making

  -       Help individual MPs or peers who are trying to promote PMB’s

  -       Functional representation

  -       Help educate and inform public

  -       Allow for political participation

  -       Make government responsible and accountable

  -       Suggest improvements for legislative or political proposals

  -       Tension release
• Insider pressure groups – have closer relationship with government, direct access to ministers and therefore have more influence, no need to use illegal tactics, smaller membership (NFU, BMA)
• Outsider pressure groups – little or no gov contact, use methods of direct action, aren’t consulted on gov policies and decisions, larger membership (Plane stupid, Extinction Rebellion)
• Sectional groups – exist to advance or protect interest of members, defend personal interests, closed membership (must have specific characteristics), benefit members only (Trade Unions, CBI)
• Causal / promotional groups – cause groups who are altruistic and campaign on behalf of an issue, open membership (charities, environmental groups)
• Pressure groups share minority views which helps with pluralism, it is protected so long as it isn’t offensive. They seek to fill the gap between parties and gain broad support, policies of labour and conservatives were agreed with less.
• Democratic features of pressure groups


  • Provide information to make judgements (Action of Smoking and Health)
  • Representation - many different pressure groups (The Automobile Association)
  • Increases political activism (38 Degrees make it simple for people to participate in their campaigns)
  • Prevents tyranny of the majority (Multiple Sclerosis Society)
  • Spread power more widely (Age UK unions)
• Undemocratic features of pressure groups


  • Disproportionate influence - some have more power and finance than others
  • Finance - some groups have higher funding than others (2006-07 cash for peerages)
  • Differences in membership size (Countryside Alliance, 300,000 sympathisers on streets)
  • Spreading of misinformation, clicktivism
  • Some PG leaders may not truly represent view of members
  • Concentration of power in the hands of very few
• Measure


  • Influential?
  • Not influential?
• Membership size


  The National Trust, with nearly 5.6 million members, has used its political influence sparingly, trying to largely stay out of politics. But when it did intervene, in 2011 (sent letter to 4m members, putting petition against gov new looser planning laws at front desk of all properties and attending all three major party conferences for first time) it was impactful. They forced the gov to alter its proposal, restoring the principle that new home should be built on 'brownfield first' – meaning former industrial sites. But… NT's membership are naturally cons target voters, so pure weight of numbers alone might not of been only factor.
• Membership size


  Unison, public sector workers union, has 1.3m members. Since 2010 campaigned relentlessly against gov 'austerity' policy of public sector spending cuts – to very little effect. Public sector pay has risen at below the rate of inflation every year since 2010, meaning public sector pay has fallen by around 15% in real terms since 2010. Unisons methods have not worked due to their policy aims not matching the government's philosophy and members not being cons voters
• Wealth


  The CBI, annual budget of over £24m, can afford 11 full-time lobbyists, helping to explain their success in campaigning for cuts in corporation tax (six cuts in corporation tax in last 10 years) and the opening up of the NHS to private contractors
• Wealth


  Association of British Bookmakers is a well-funded industry pressure group, revenues of over £2m a year. Uses funds to employ specialist lobbying firm and give MPs over £20,000 a year in free tickets to sporting events. But public mood was against them over FOBTs, over 80% of public supporting a limit on the odds and in April 2019 that limit came into force, reducing maximum stake to £2. Wealth doesn't guarantee influence.
• Expertise


  The League against Cruel sports – once an outside limited to direct action against animal cruelty, has actively pursued 'insider status' by improving quality of research and data collection, employing a team of former police officers to secure reliable info on illegal fox-hunting and dog-fighting. Politicians and civil servants have come to rely on them as experts, and this has helped the LACV secure an increase in prison sentence for dog-fighting from six months to five years in 2017
• Expertise


  The National Education Union is the largest teaching union, clearly has high degree of expertise on education issues – almost zero success since 2010. Opposed GCSE and A-level reforms and increase in testing primary school level. Expertise can be ignored when gov principles and electoral interests direct it towards ignoring that expertise.
• CBI, ultimate insider but had limited impact on Brexit
• Public opinion


  Age UK – in 2017 gov announced anyone driving a minibus would need a licence and 34 hours of training. Age UK lead the campaign against this change, and secured support of Daily Mail. Gov backed down after several articles and announced this wouldn't happen in 2018
• Public opinion


  Extinction Rebellion – public sympathetic to aims (63% think UK should declare climate emergency). But groups tactics were not popular, only 33% of public supported direct action, 59% opposed it and media coverage was hostile. Spray painted offices of Sun, Daily Mail and telegraph.
• An organisation dedicated to influencing gov and party policy through research, policy proposals, information and expertise. They lean left or right but they cannot support a political party or political campaign group.
• Select committees use think tank reports
• Funders of think tanks may not allow opposing ideologies to be reported
• Media can use think tanks, low GE turnout will public know what think tanks are?
• IFS (The Institute for Fiscal Studies) – specialises in UK taxation and public policy, resulted in Kwasi Kwarteng no longer being chancellor
• Members of professional organisations who are paid by clients seeking access to gov, or to MPs and members of the House of Lords.
•  

  Shell spent around £3,857,040 on lobbying and BP plc spend around £2,141,752
• 141 lobbying firms in the UK, with over 4,000 employees and annual revenues of over £2bn
• 10 ways big business controls government:

  -       Control the ground

  -       Spin the media

  -       Engineer a following

  -       Buy in credibility

  -       Sponsor a thinktank

  -       Consult your critics

  -       Neutralise the opposition

  -       Control the web

  -       Open the door

  -       Employment
• Civil liberties – ‘political freedoms that we must have available to us all, if it be true to say of us that we live in a society that adheres to the principle of representative, or democratic, government’
•  

  Political rights – the rights that we possess to allow us to participate in democracy