Thanks to everyone for those empathetic responses on the government pulling the plug on the SDC. Crass, unfounded, self-defeating, ideologically-motivated – that just about sums it up!Which brings me to the role of the Lib Dems in this wretched business. And what one detects here is a combination of indifference and supine deference to their coalition partners. Not so much as a puppy-dog whimper of dissent.For Lib Dem MP’s and voters, this has sent out a very worrying signal. Whatever the Party’s internal rationale may have been for throwing in its lot with the Tories, the external perception is that the Lib Dems have four things they have to deliver on if they are going to come out of this the other end with any credibility: electoral reform; civil liberties enhanced; environment and sustainable development on the up; and the Lib Dems need to have exercised a restraining, moderating and civilising influence on their coalition partners.Sticking to the environment / SD bit for now, Lib Dem performance to date has been poor to very poor. Not having a Liberal Democrat Minister inside Defra is proving particularly problematic. Claims that Defra will be enhancing its capability to promote sustainable development are, as yet, entirely unsubstantiated, and the likely outcome of further cuts in Defra is that SD capability will be even further hammered come the Comprehensive Spending Review this Autumn.If the SDC was still there, that probably wouldn’t have mattered that much. Defra always struggled with its cross-government remit in this regard. But without the SDC, other Departments will just get on and do what they want to do without any SD oversight.So this may well be the time to create the first test for Caroline Spelman in her self-declared role as ‘personal lead’ on promoting SD across government. Right now, she has a wonderful opportunity to prove her championing skills with the Department of Education.I won’t bore you with the details, but for the last four or five years, the Department of Education has done an increasingly good job in ‘mainstreaming’ sustainable development, quietly and intelligently, across the whole educational system. Michael Gove, as the new Secretary of State, has now decided that he wants to get rid of the department’s Sustainable Schools Strategy – and will no longer be actively involved in promoting sustainable schools.A small thing in itself – relative to the systematic slash and burn underway on every other front – but fairly disastrous in terms of engaging young people in building a low-carbon sustainable future.Again, this is straight ideology. The cost associated with the department’s leadership in this has been minimal.Plenty of scope, therefore, for Caroline Spelman to pick up the phone to persuade Michael Gove to withdraw those proposals, and start championing SD even more enthusiastically than his Labour predecessor.If Miss Spellman is too busy, then perhaps some of her greener Lib Dem colleagues could weigh in with Mr Gove. As I said earlier, it’s too early to come to any definitive conclusion here. Maybe what we’re seeing is a series of one-off, heedless decisions – taken simply because they don’t know any better. Alternatively, it could be a pattern emerging along the lines of ‘slash the deficit, sod the environment’.In which case, suggestions that we should be targeting Lib Dem MPs now, before the pattern is established, becomes all the more important. And the parallel idea that we might set up some independent, web-enabled scrutiny function (under the compelling title of ‘ GreenestGovEverYeahRight.com!’) is beginning to sound more and more attractive.