Ultimately the point is the people and Democracy. Poggi (1978:144) asks of parliament but one might well ask of party. If it ceases to operate as an effective link, what or who can politically direct, control and moderate the ever-growing mutual involvement between state and society? If parties lose control of policy and the state, citizens lose as well.".
Patric Syed, in an essay in Parliamentary Affairs, (In praise of Party: Vol. 51, No.2 April "98) very effectively advocates the need for good parties. He says, "None of these proposals for citizen juries, deliberative polls, referendum, state funding, elected city mayors or electoral reform are universal panaceas for the problems of representation and government, nor are they, in my opinion, a substitute for party. The Houghton Committee stated that 'the existence of political parties is an essential feature of our system of parliamentary democracy' because they are the agencies through which the electorate can express its collective will; they provide an orderly framework within which political leaders can emerge, develop and strive for political office; they provide the means whereby the general public are able to participate in the formulation of policies; they ensure responsible government since with an executive drawn from the House of Commons and an uncodified constitution, without party, gridlock would be more likely; and they aggregate differing opinions and views into practical political programmes. One additional function should be added to the Houghton list which is that parties help organize disappointment: politics is not solely about victory; and coming to terms with defeat, rethinking and regrouping is an essential feature of a democratic society." He further argues- "At the institutional level, they encounter the problem that policy delivery is more difficult in the face of weakened national government. At the socio-cultural level, they face the problems of shifting cleavage patterns.
