Broadcast timeline
Sky News Today
Sunday 4 October 2026 · 16:00 BST · 30m · 4 stories · 6 annotated moments · 29 of 30 min on news stories (97%)
Broadcast overview
An AI-generated overview based on this broadcast's transcript.
Green Party delegates at their annual conference in Brighton passed a motion describing Zionism as racism by 56% to 44%, with 1,022 votes in favour and 813 against. The Israeli foreign ministry called on every political party in Britain to reject the resolution, saying the Green Party had given legitimacy to terrorism and adopted the ideology of Hamas. A political correspondent reported division among members and leadership; the party's five MPs said they opposed genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid and illegal occupation, deputy leader Mothin Ali backed the motion, and leader Zack Polanski was not present or online to vote.
The government conceded that scaling back plans to cut some jury trials means the court backlog will keep rising. Justice Secretary Alex Norris said the bill would remove the right to elect, restrict some magistrates-to-Crown Court appeals and increase magistrates' sentencing powers, but cases would rise until legislation was implemented. The Ministry of Justice said only complex fraud and financial offences would be judged alone, the Criminal Bar Association chair welcomed jury trials as crucial, and concerns remained over magistrates handling middle-ranking cases and shortages. At the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, Kemi Badenoch said her party was completely different from the one that lost the last election, pitched it as the party of common sense and predicted victory next time, launching a personal plan for government called The Right Way; correspondents described a packed hall and a standing ovation, with Andrew Griffith to speak on the economy and Badenoch's main speech on Wednesday.
At Cornell University in New York, President Michael Kotlikoff said he was deeply disturbed by the alleged rape of a student in 2024 and promised greater transparency and a review of fraternities and sororities after criticism of how the case was handled. Prosecutors reopened an investigation into allegations that a 20-year-old woman was drugged and raped by seven men who were members of the same fraternity. Professor Emerita Joan Brumberg said Cornell had been unresponsive and complicit, discussed the Title IX investigation and the Greek system, and heard that the woman and the university president had been threatened; she hoped the case would not become politically divisive and called for rethinking Greek systems and New York rape law.
- 0:58 Story begins Green Party conference faces row over Zionism motion
- 1:33
Charged quote Green Party conference faces row over Zionism motion
… minutes, the Israeli foreign ministry had reacted, calling on every political party in Britain to unequivocally reject what it called a twisted resolution. In a statement, it also said, Today, the Green Party in Britain ceased to act as a political party and became a body that gives legitimacy to terrorism. The Greens have adopted not only the Green of Hamas, but also its ideology, the elimination of the state of Israel through armed struggle.
Sky News, Sky News Today, 4 October 2026, 1:33-1:41
- 1:41
Charged quote Green Party conference faces row over Zionism motion
Today, the Green Party in Britain ceased to act as a political party and became a body that gives legitimacy to terrorism. The Greens have adopted not only the Green of Hamas, but also its ideology, the elimination of the state of Israel through armed struggle. This goes far beyond the boundaries of legitimate political debate.
Sky News, Sky News Today, 4 October 2026, 1:41-1:50
- 1:54
Charged quote Green Party conference faces row over Zionism motion
The Greens have adopted not only the Green of Hamas, but also its ideology, the elimination of the state of Israel through armed struggle. This goes far beyond the boundaries of legitimate political debate. As long as this resolution remains in place, it will stand as a stain on the history of the United Kingdom. That statement there from the Israeli foreign ministry.
Sky News, Sky News Today, 4 October 2026, 1:54-2:01
- 3:05
Contested quote Green Party conference faces row over Zionism motion
because this motion has declared Zionism as racism. But the proponents seem to say that that wouldn't be the case. This wasn't about targeting individuals and this was actually just about a political ideology. And it's caused a lot of division among members, but also the leadership. We've had a statement from the five MPs in the last few minutes.
Sky News, Sky News Today, 4 October 2026, 3:05-3:11
- 3:24
Charged quote Green Party conference faces row over Zionism motion
We've had a statement from the five MPs in the last few minutes. They read out a little bit of what they had to say. They said, we will continue to stand in opposition to genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid and the illegal occupation. We will continue to call out the heinous crimes of the Netanyahu government.
Sky News, Sky News Today, 4 October 2026, 3:24-3:31
- 5:35
- 10:54 Story begins Conservative Party conference begins in Birmingham
- 12:51
Charged quote Conservative Party conference begins in Birmingham
at one point during the speech she said when we win the next election and we will they absolutely love that as you can imagine she talked about booting out the plotters and the badly behaved from the Conservative Party who could she possibly have meant I suspect Robert Jenrick don't you and also she talked about the importance of the economy
Sky News, Sky News Today, 4 October 2026, 12:51-12:57
- 15:10
Source: Sky News, "Sky News Today", Sunday 4 October 2026. Transcript excerpts and stills are shown only to support the analysis annotated alongside them. Search-result excerpts are distinct from the editorial annotations — see our copyright basis. The full broadcast is not reproduced.