Political Pressure Groups and British Politics

Pressure Groups are non -governmental organisations whose main aim is to influence government policy. These groups have no intention of seeking power but rather seek to pursue single issues in the interest of their members or the people they represent. There are several types of pressure groups including insider and outsider groups. Insider groups are regularly consulted by the government and provide them with important information which can influence policy, eg. British Medical Association on health issues. On the other hand, outsider groups have yet to establish a consultative relationship with the government normally because they behave irresponsibly so the government will not engage with them, eg. Father4Justice. Also, the government may feel that the group in question does not contain the expertise to make them a useful source of information. The success of a pressure group, or lack of it as the case may be, depends on three main factors: the individual group themselves, the political party in power, and the time period the groups are operating in. (Jones and Norton, 2004)

On the whole, insider groups, as opposed to outsider groups, are more likely to influence government policy because they often have well established working relationships with politicians and civil servants. They also tend to have vast swathes of knowledge in a certain policy areas, so the UK government can be almost totally reliant on them for access to information when making a policy in a relevant field. For example only farmers can implement farming policy which results in the National Farmers Union enjoying a powerful insider status, so the government could possibly find itself in a position where this union has the power to tell them that they ar...

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...cy. Groups who resort to violence and lawlessness in getting their message out are unlikely to hold the ear of any democratically elected government. That is not to say that such “direct action” methods are unsuccessful in drawing attention to a certain cause or issue. One can comprehend that there are certain uses for pressure groups and maybe in some parts of the country if we did not have them then some things would not run as smoothly as it currently does, for example the National Farmers Union – who are a massive organization with expertise, knowledge and considerable power in their particular policy area.

Works Cited

Jones, B. 2004. Politics UK. Harlow, England: Pearson/Longman

Grant, W. 2000. Pressure groups and British politics. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan Press.

Simpson, D. 1999. Pressure groups. London: Hodder & Stoughton.