To what extent are the biggest pressure groups the most successful ones?

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John ‘cheeky’ Chilvers                                                                                     

To what extent are the biggest pressure groups the most successful ones

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Does matter – large groups can claim to represent public RSPB and TUC, more members more donations Greenpeace and WWF, can run demonstrations CND, politicians want to be popular, Gurkha campaign, able to strike if have large membership.

Does not matter – Policy expertise Howard league for penal reform, organisation and leadership Liberty, wealth CBI, government views, density of members, BMA 80% of doctors, knowing the right people.

To what extent are the biggest pressure groups the most successful ones

Some argue that the more members a pressure group has the more powerful it is. If a pressure group has a large number of members it can claim to represent the opinion of the public. Because government has to get elected they will try and look like they are on the side of the public so they win the next election. They therefore try and support popular pressure groups. For example if the TUC who have about 7 million members publically support a political party at election time that political party would see a increase in number of people potentially voting for them. Equally if the TUC publically removed their support from a political party, that political party’s popularity would decrease.

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There have been numerous examples of when the government has changed its mind because of the large amount of public support behind a campaign. The Gurkha campaign in 2008 was backed by a huge section of society, the government were at first very reluctant to allow Gurkha’s to settle in the UK. Parliament rebelled against the government and passed a law which meant Gurkha’s could settle in the UK. The government, noticing how much public support was behind the campaign finally caved in and granted the campaign its wish.

A second example would be the success of ...

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