DEMOCRACY AND PARTICIPATION
Pressure groups
Marcus Rashford and the free school meals campaign
● Rashford initally helped to raise £20mil with the charity FareShare to provide food for
vulnerable people during lockdown in spring 2020
● He then successfully campaigned for the government to provide free school meals
during the summer holidays of 2020 and then unsuccessfully for this to continue in
the October half-terms and Christmas holidays
● His petition on October half term meals got over 1 million signatures by the end of the
month
● After the got refused to back down, thousands of individuals and businesses pledged
to proide free meals and Rashford helped to coordinate this
● He set up a food poverty task force
● In November 2020, the government pledged to spend more than £4million on a
winter grant scheme; a significant climb down
Type of Pressure group?
● The campaign was not insider initially: govt and its supporters were dismissive, with
comments such as ‘It’s a parents’ job to deed their children’ (Kevin Hollinrake MP)
● The campaign is clearly casual: food poverty
● Has used insider (access to govt ministers) and outsider techniches (raising public
awareness and pressure via social media)
Why was the campaign so successful?
● Simple message
● Suport of a committed an engaging celebrity who is prepared to get involved
● Rashford was brought up by a single parent and benefited from free school meals
himself: personal story showed Rashford had a genuine understanding
● Contrast to cold, professional politicians. Several attempts to criticise him, such as
those by MP Ben Bradshaw, backfired and made him even more popular
● Effective use of social media: used twitter to speak to public, has at present over 5
million twitter followers
● Role of events and economic circumstance: COVID crisis was right time to focus as
food poverty had become a high-profile issue due to school closures, furloughed
workers, delays in universal credit payments and rising unemployment
Pressure groups protecting rights
● Stonewall – ‘acceptance without exception’ Protects LGBT rights. Challenged the
ban on gay people in the armed forces. Involved in successful parliamentary
campaigns such as equalising treatment of lesbian parents and their children in the
human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008.
● Howard League for Penal Reform ended the ban on prisoners receiving books sent
by family and friends: major victory through the courts in 2014
● Liberty – aims to expose discrimination and fights attempts by gov to restrict civil
liberties. Successfully encouraged MPs to oppose the introduction of identity cards.
, They also launched judicial reviews in cases where it believed that the gov has acted
in ultra vires (beyond its authority). EG 2017 Liberty challenged the legality of the
Investigatory Powers Act on the grounds that the ECOJ had declared its ‘general and
indiscriminate’ approach to private individuals’ data to be illegal.
○ Liberty PG August 2020 - won a Court of Appeal against the legal framework
used by South Wales Police when using facial recognition technology
● Amnesty international helped with the release of Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe
● UKUNCUT: forced Starbucks to return 2m in tax revenues to the treasury. They were
raising the profile of the tax evasion in austerity. This was ruining Starbucks’ brand so
they paid up. Also had sympathy from the courts: a lot of their members got very light
sentences for significant disruption to businesses through sit-ins. Did not conform at
all with the government's viewpoint however were successful. However, can be
argued although have achieved some symbolic victories, not really that successful
However
● Haven’t been able to stop Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022
(Suspicionless stop and search and police can shut down protests if they will be a
"public nuisance". Will most likely disproportionately affect minority groups) despite
pressure groups such as Liberty, the Jubilee Debt Campaign and JUSTICE running
campaigns to oppose it
● In spite of 80 UK uncut campaigns since 2010, they had little influence as Cameron
gov committed to austerity
● Countryside Alliance failed to prevent passage of 2004 Hunting Act - because their
views not in line with the majority views in society
● Liberty in 2019 lost the High court challenge to Snoopers Charter. Where judges
rejected the claim that mass surveillance powers breach human rights. Rights
pressure groups do not adequately protect rights in the UK because they have
consistently failed to protect rights and their success is hugely dependent on external
factors such as whether it’s an insider or outsider group and whether it conforms with
the current government’s aims. - For example: Liberty (outsider group) failed to
reduce the Government’s covid laws during the peak of the pandemic, also showing
that its aims didn’t conform with the govs so unsuccessful.
Examples of pressure groups lobbying parliament
● Animal Aid: lobbied govt in order to make CCTV compulsory in all slaughterhouses
● Confederation of British Industry: in 2016 CBI lobbied parliament to commit to £6bn
in addressing digital connectivity in hard to reach areas
Corporations and Lobbyists
● Owen Patterson: lobbying on behalf of his company as a backbench MP. Did not
reveal to parliament that he had a conflict of interest. He was suspended from the
house by the Standards Committee. The government tried to save Patterson by
changing the laws retrospectively. The government was forced to apologise and
Patterson had to resign.
● Patricia Hewitt and Stephen Byers- were going to leave in 2010 and decided they
were going to reach out to some lobbying firms and offer their services. This was
actually a sting operation by Channel 4 news. “ I am a taxi for hire”: Stephen Byers
Pressure groups
Marcus Rashford and the free school meals campaign
● Rashford initally helped to raise £20mil with the charity FareShare to provide food for
vulnerable people during lockdown in spring 2020
● He then successfully campaigned for the government to provide free school meals
during the summer holidays of 2020 and then unsuccessfully for this to continue in
the October half-terms and Christmas holidays
● His petition on October half term meals got over 1 million signatures by the end of the
month
● After the got refused to back down, thousands of individuals and businesses pledged
to proide free meals and Rashford helped to coordinate this
● He set up a food poverty task force
● In November 2020, the government pledged to spend more than £4million on a
winter grant scheme; a significant climb down
Type of Pressure group?
● The campaign was not insider initially: govt and its supporters were dismissive, with
comments such as ‘It’s a parents’ job to deed their children’ (Kevin Hollinrake MP)
● The campaign is clearly casual: food poverty
● Has used insider (access to govt ministers) and outsider techniches (raising public
awareness and pressure via social media)
Why was the campaign so successful?
● Simple message
● Suport of a committed an engaging celebrity who is prepared to get involved
● Rashford was brought up by a single parent and benefited from free school meals
himself: personal story showed Rashford had a genuine understanding
● Contrast to cold, professional politicians. Several attempts to criticise him, such as
those by MP Ben Bradshaw, backfired and made him even more popular
● Effective use of social media: used twitter to speak to public, has at present over 5
million twitter followers
● Role of events and economic circumstance: COVID crisis was right time to focus as
food poverty had become a high-profile issue due to school closures, furloughed
workers, delays in universal credit payments and rising unemployment
Pressure groups protecting rights
● Stonewall – ‘acceptance without exception’ Protects LGBT rights. Challenged the
ban on gay people in the armed forces. Involved in successful parliamentary
campaigns such as equalising treatment of lesbian parents and their children in the
human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008.
● Howard League for Penal Reform ended the ban on prisoners receiving books sent
by family and friends: major victory through the courts in 2014
● Liberty – aims to expose discrimination and fights attempts by gov to restrict civil
liberties. Successfully encouraged MPs to oppose the introduction of identity cards.
, They also launched judicial reviews in cases where it believed that the gov has acted
in ultra vires (beyond its authority). EG 2017 Liberty challenged the legality of the
Investigatory Powers Act on the grounds that the ECOJ had declared its ‘general and
indiscriminate’ approach to private individuals’ data to be illegal.
○ Liberty PG August 2020 - won a Court of Appeal against the legal framework
used by South Wales Police when using facial recognition technology
● Amnesty international helped with the release of Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe
● UKUNCUT: forced Starbucks to return 2m in tax revenues to the treasury. They were
raising the profile of the tax evasion in austerity. This was ruining Starbucks’ brand so
they paid up. Also had sympathy from the courts: a lot of their members got very light
sentences for significant disruption to businesses through sit-ins. Did not conform at
all with the government's viewpoint however were successful. However, can be
argued although have achieved some symbolic victories, not really that successful
However
● Haven’t been able to stop Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022
(Suspicionless stop and search and police can shut down protests if they will be a
"public nuisance". Will most likely disproportionately affect minority groups) despite
pressure groups such as Liberty, the Jubilee Debt Campaign and JUSTICE running
campaigns to oppose it
● In spite of 80 UK uncut campaigns since 2010, they had little influence as Cameron
gov committed to austerity
● Countryside Alliance failed to prevent passage of 2004 Hunting Act - because their
views not in line with the majority views in society
● Liberty in 2019 lost the High court challenge to Snoopers Charter. Where judges
rejected the claim that mass surveillance powers breach human rights. Rights
pressure groups do not adequately protect rights in the UK because they have
consistently failed to protect rights and their success is hugely dependent on external
factors such as whether it’s an insider or outsider group and whether it conforms with
the current government’s aims. - For example: Liberty (outsider group) failed to
reduce the Government’s covid laws during the peak of the pandemic, also showing
that its aims didn’t conform with the govs so unsuccessful.
Examples of pressure groups lobbying parliament
● Animal Aid: lobbied govt in order to make CCTV compulsory in all slaughterhouses
● Confederation of British Industry: in 2016 CBI lobbied parliament to commit to £6bn
in addressing digital connectivity in hard to reach areas
Corporations and Lobbyists
● Owen Patterson: lobbying on behalf of his company as a backbench MP. Did not
reveal to parliament that he had a conflict of interest. He was suspended from the
house by the Standards Committee. The government tried to save Patterson by
changing the laws retrospectively. The government was forced to apologise and
Patterson had to resign.
● Patricia Hewitt and Stephen Byers- were going to leave in 2010 and decided they
were going to reach out to some lobbying firms and offer their services. This was
actually a sting operation by Channel 4 news. “ I am a taxi for hire”: Stephen Byers
