To that end, he is preparing a distinct agenda on relations with the EU over the next decade, Britain\u2019s chairing of the G20<\/a> next year and the climate crisis. Miliband is also determined to contribute to some of the big debates about shaping the international order of the future \u2013 debates that may take him into difficult territory given the volatility of the US alliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Palestine may take longer to address, partly owing to the Israeli elections and the sudden glimmer of progress over Hamas disarmament<\/a>, but his instincts are clear. In 2014, as Labour leader, he urged his MPs to vote to recognise Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Acutely conscious that he is the tenth foreign secretary since William Hague stood aside in 2014, Miliband also arrives without a Foreign Office permanent secretary after the sacking of Olly Robbins<\/a>, and with some staff on a rolling strike over the large job cuts that Robbins had announced he would impose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Miliband, working with the new\u00a0Europe<\/a>\u00a0minister based in the Foreign Office, Hamish Falconer, intends to be closely involved in talks on the UK\u2019s relations with the EU since he regards a successful solution to that relationship as the single biggest question facing the UK. His personal involvement will give the Foreign Office greater influence in the Europe debate than under Keir Starmer\u2019s leadership, when the Cabinet Office was the sole proprietor of negotiations with the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Miliband represents a Eurosceptic constituency and remains bound by Labour\u2019s manifesto red lines not to enter the single market or customs union in this parliament. But that does not prevent him from seeking to influence Andy Burnham\u2019s longer-term thinking about where the UK\u2019s relationship with the EU should be in 10 or 15 years. Burnham, Miliband\u2019s aides argue, has shown an openness to ideas on social care and the same openness may apply to issues such as European defence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHaving a closer relationship with Europe is a key foreign policy priority to protect our national security and grow our economy,\u201d an ally said. \u201cEd will be working in lockstep with No 10 and Hamish Falconer to make this happen. He sees Europe as at the heart of this agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Friends also said Miliband wants to find a way to revive the ailing G20, a largely economic multilateral body that has been steadily declining in influence since 2008, when the UK played a major role coordinating the response to the financial crash<\/a> during Gordon Brown\u2019s premiership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the latter days of his own tenure at No 10, Starmer appointed Brown to act as his special envoy on global finance and cooperation in advance of the G20, and Brown will retain the role, working alongside Miliband, who was one of his advisers while chancellor. Lord Wood, who acted as a foreign policy adviser during the Brown premiership, has also been appointed to the Foreign Office as a minister in the Lords and will bring experience and intellect to the role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the UK due to chair the postponed illicit finance summit in December in advance of taking over the G20, ideas such as a global wealth tax and greater transparency in overseas financial holdings are all being promoted<\/a>. But the secrecy of Britain\u2019s overseas territories has for a decade been a millstone in the UK\u2019s call to combat corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kirsty McNeill, the new international development minister and a former executive director at Save the Children, has been asked to wrestle with the impact of massive aid cuts. She has previously said the UK will not regain credibility on aid unless it sets out a path for returning aid spending to 0.7% of GDP. Aid\u00a0will fall to 0.3% next year<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0Burnham\u2019s \u00a32 bus fare cap<\/a>\u00a0is being funded by a raid on the aid budget. The G20 at least provides a creative way for her to build alliances to tackle unjust debts and illicit financial flows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Ed](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/488e2bda868675c7073907d68a11343350e5f5d0\/0_564_3665_3665\/master\/3665.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none\")
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