ALL four of Wirral's Labour Constituency Labour Parties (CLP) have voted to chuck controversial litter squad Kingdom out of the borough.

The votes, made at Birkenhead, Wallasey, Wirral South and Wirral West CLP meetings late last week, urge the council to put an end to the contract with the environmental enforcement team.

A motion put forward and passed at each of the meetings, which all took place on Friday, claimed the firm "alienates" businesses and residents, causing "huge distress".

Calls last week by the Liberal Democrat group requested an extraordinary council meeting with a view to terminate the contract.

And the week before, Kingdom came under fire after businesses in New Brighton and Wallasey were handed £300 commercial waste fines for sweet wrappers.

That led to the contract for trade waste being suspended.

Speaking on behalf of the four CLPs, Paul Martin, Labour campaigner and a Wallasey ward candidate at May's local elections, said: "In recent weeks and months, it has become more and more apparent that Wirral Borough Council's relationship with Kingdom is causing huge distress to residents and businesses.

"We recognise the need to tackle littering across the borough, and would fully support any initiative that ethically achieves this.

"But this is not what we currently have in place.

"The motions moved on Friday, that were overwhelmingly carried, call on Wirral Borough Council to put an end to a contract that is alienating many of our businesses and residents.

"We feel that the current punitive approach taken by Kingdom does not reflect the fair and inclusive society that we try to promote.

"We have made our position clear. Having Kingdom working with us is not local Labour Party policy."

The motion will now be put to a meeting of the Labour Local Campaign Forum, set to take place this week.

If it's carried at that meeting, it will mean further pressure on the council's cabinet to terminate the contract, which was only renewed last year, but could run until 2024.

Last week, the authority's Liberal Democrat group requested an extraordinary council meeting to discuss the litter squad's "heavy-handed" dealings, with a view to follow Liverpool City Council’s lead and terminate all contracts.

Lib Dem environment spokesman, Cllr Allan Brame, said: "This suspension of the commercial waste contract is all well and good, but it is only a pause in the council's heavy-handed approach.

"The policy will be back unchanged after the local elections.

"The fundamental issue is that we have a real problem with dog fouling, fly-tipping and littering in our town centres, but Kingdom are doing absolutely nothing to tackle it by focusing on people who drop cigarette ends and businesses that have not kept documents for two years."

The commercial waste contract was suspended by the council after businesses around New Brighton and Wallasey were handed £300 fines under the "aggressive" new rules.

Fixed Penalty Notices were given out to local book shops and antique stores not able to demonstrate how commercial waste is disposed – and issued for items such as a sweet wrapper and newspaper inside the premises.

Wirral Council said it could not comment on the Labour CLPs' decision, while Kingdom was also contacted for comment.