SHEEP could be forced to keep their thick fleeces on this summer.

A shortage of shearers means that many of the UK’s 14.5 million sheep could remain unshorn.

Usually around 500 shearers come from Australia and New Zealand every year to complete the task but the British Wool Marketing Board says that with the work starting in May, only one person has confirmed he is on the way.

The board blames the Government over new rules for work permits.

A new biometric identity card, costing £200 per applicant, requires workers to travel personally to Canberra for fingerprinting and photographic identity details. One shearer travelled for eight hours for a three minute interview.

Now shearers have been told that if they want a card it will take at least nine weeks to issue – making it no longer worth the trip to the UK.

Sheep shearing contractors say there are not enough skilled shearers in the UK and they rely on the ones from the southern hemisphere, who are among the best in the world. Some shearers can take the wool off 400 sheep a day.

Many come to the UK from contract shearing in the USA and Italy but now they have been told they must return home first to complete the biometric card formalities.