MPs will debate whether IS has committed genocide against Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities in the Middle East when the House of Commons considers the question next Wednesday. The motion calls on the government to bring pressure on the UN Security Council to allow the International Criminal Court (ICC) to intervene. The Government has been reluctant to describe the conflict as a genocide, which would place moral obligations on the state. The debate will be a backbench business debate whose outcome is not binding on the Government to act: however, Fiona Bruce intends to force a vote at the end of the debate. If the motion is passed it would significantly increase the pressure on Downing Street to take action. The Catholic peer Lord Alton has pushed the issue in the House of Lords, and co-signed a letter to the Prime Minister in December alongside 74 other peers and MPs.