Answer:
Pressure groups can help make change by their methods that they use to try and influence decision making within the government. These methods can be legal or illegal. A pressure group will try to influence the public opinion so that if they have more support from the general public the government will listen to what the majority want. A pressure group could use many methods: lobbying, demonstrations, petitions, marches etc and can do this with permission or without. If one method gains more publicity than the other then there is a chance that they will be more successful. For example, when Fathers 4 Justice dressed as superheros scaled a Foreign Office balcony overlooking Downing Street. This was remebered by people and gained plenty of public attention therefore, the government had to do something about their cause as they were now in the public eye. This meant that a meeting was held about this and the conclusion was that:
"What we have recently put forward are proposals that will give children much more time with both their parents - the non-resident parent as well as the resident parent."
This was said by women's Minister Patricia Hewitt. This shows how a pressure group influenced the government to change legislation.