Discuss the view that pressure groups have an important role to play in British Democracy.

One reason that suggests pressure groups do have an important role to play in British politics, is that they allow people the opportunity to participate in the political system. One example is the British Medical Association, which currently has almost 160,000 members, as well as 19,000 medical students. This gives the group a huge amount of influence in the creation of government policy, which is hugely important in the democratic process. This is shown by their lobbying of the Government in 2006, when they addressed the UK Health Select Committee, who then enforced a ban on smoking in public buildings. This shows that pressure groups do have an extremely important role in British politics, representing millions of people, educating in their fields, and lobbying the government.