Pressure groups

    Cards (32)

    • Big business especially is constantly in contact and consultation with government and its departments
    • Businesses carry considerable weight, not least in terms of providing jobs and paying tax
    • In an increasingly globalised economy, multinationals can threaten to move factories and jobs outside the UK
    • Corporations do not always get their own way
    • Some businesses, including shop-based retailers, supported the digital sales tax move in the belief it levelled the playing field
    • Many big corporations have themselves become the target of pressure groups, especially those associated with environmental and ethical issues
    • The shareholder resolution was filed by the campaign group ShareAction
    • Lobbyists
      Firms hired to help target a group's message as effectively as possible
    • A number of former ministers go on to work for lobbying firms (often known as the 'revolving door), although they must seek permission from civil service body ACOBA (the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments) in advance
    • There is usually a 'cooling off' period between leaving office and taking up such a job to avoid any conflict of interest
    • A register for MPs who double up as lobbyists was established in 2015 following the 'cash for access' scandal
    • The former MPs appeared to offer to use their positions to benefit the firm in exchange for thousands of pounds
    • Lobbyists often work at a more low-profile level and can help achieve some very positive outcomes
    • The policy was adopted in 2008
    • Think tanks
      Specifically set up to undertake policy research and development, which in turn is published and used to push certain policy positions
    • Think tanks are normally privately funded, often by business or wealthy individuals
    • One estimate in 2017 of around 30 UK-based think tanks put their combined annual income at £65 million
    • Income tends to be fairly balanced across the political spectrum
    • A report in 2019 found that the 11 right-leaning think tanks received £15.5 million, compared with £12.9 million that went to left-leaning groups
    • The bulk of income — £35 million — went to eight politically neutral groups
    • Think tanks
      • They have highly ideological standpoints
      • They publish magazines and organise conferences as ways of communicating their ideas
      • Some are more non-political, such as the Centre for Social Justice, which was established in 2004 by former Conservative leader lain Duncan Smith to seek effective solutions to poverty and social issues in the UK
      • Some, such as Chatham House, specialise in policy research in international relations
    • The leading think tank, Policy Exchange, claimed credit for a number of policy ideas later taken up by government, which included directly elected police commissioners and the pupil premium
    • The media have always been a major presence in the world of peddling political influence
    • Most UK national newspapers are politically aligned and in tune with the preferences of both their proprietors and their readership
    • The circulation of national newspapers had roughly halved between 1992 and 2019 due to the rise of social media and the internet
    • A change in ownership and editor can bring about shifts in political stance
    • While it has not performed an editorial U-turn, it strongly backed Boris Johnson in 2019, ending the influence of its previous proprietor, Richard Desmond, whose staunch Euroscepticism led the Express to back UKIP in the 2015 election
    • Newspapers often prefer to back winners
    • The biggest change in the media has been the rise of social media, which is far less controlled in a conventional sense by proprietors and opens up a whole new world of political advertising, trending topics and fake news
    • Father's for Justice (outsider group)
      Campaigning for fathers’ rights after a divorce or relationship breakdown:set up in 2001 by Matt O’Connor. Many protests have involved supporters donning superhero costumes to make the point that fathers are superheroes.
    • outsider groups campaigning for minority causes:
      Groups calling for penal reform, (the Howard League and the Prison Reform Trust), often take up causes that may not reflect the public mood. These have included voting rights for prisoners and the early release of some inmates during the COVID-19 pandemic. these groups have links with the political mainstream. In 2020, Lord Ken MacDonald QC, a former director of public prosecutions, became president of the Howard League. Being an outsider group does not always preclude involvement with political insiders
    • the Gurkha Justice Campaign - potential insider
      spent 4 years lobbying the Blair and Brown governments to give equal rights to all Gurkhas to settle permanently in the UK. gained a much higher profile when the celebrity Joanna Lumley joined the campaign in 2008. In 2009, the gov conceded settlement rights to all Gurkhas.
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