Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to support and promote traditional Celtic wrestling styles, including Cumberland Wrestling and Cornish Wrestling as part of the UK's cultural heritage.

Sport England, our arm’s length body for grassroots sport, is investing £1.64 million into British Wrestling, the National Governing Body for wrestling with responsibility for developing the sport across the country, for the funding period 2022-2029.

The UK ratified the UNESCO 2003 Convention on Living Heritage in 2024. We are working to recognise and celebrate traditions and social practices, including folklore, performance, customs, crafts and sports such as wrestling in all its regional and traditional variations. We will publish the first inventories of living heritage in the UK later this year, followed by a public consultation to understand priorities for safeguarding living heritage.