The news that unconventional gas has become an issue in the Labour party leadership campaign is interesting. Andy Burnham is generally seen as something of a moderniser - he has proposed abolishing inheritance tax and tough law and order policies among other things. However, he has also been associated with the Brownite left from time to time and might therefore be best seen as being a man of flexible principles.
It's hard therefore to know what to make of his decision to come out against unconventional gas, apart from observing that his comments on the subject - saying we need stronger evidence of its safety, and that licences are handed out "like confetti" - suggest that he is quite remarkably ill-informed.
No doubt this is all a case of trying to win votes in the election rather than the setting out of a serious policy position. Nevertheless, he does seem to be risking as being seen as an anti-economic development candidate, someone who is happy to "contain" the prospects of economic development in the north-west and who will cheerfully stand by and watch energy intensive industry flee the country.
He's a kind of mini-Miliband I suppose. I guess that makes him a microband.