Litter squad Kingdom have left Wirral after the contract with the council was terminated.

The agreement with the controversial environmental was set to run until at least 2021, but it’s been revealed officers could stop working in the borough as soon as today.

It’s a victory for people power, and comes after the recent public backlash against the team, who were thrown out of Liverpool last year.

Wirral Council has stressed the decision to be a mutual termination, not a “sacking”, with the firm reportedly “happy to walk away” as they are “unable to guarantee the safety of staff” on the streets.

That follows what the authority called a “series of incidents and many, many threats on social media”.

Kingdom employees were informed of the decision on Thursday morning.

Cllr Anita Leech, cabinet member for environment, said: “Residents have told us time and again how important clean streets are. They want us to tackle the small minority of people who think it is OK to drop litter, fly-tip, and allow their pets to foul the streets.

“This is why we launched our zero-tolerance policy towards this environmental crime. Our primary concern was and remains to protect our local environment, maintaining the area’s many beauty spots and improving areas where environmental crimes repeatedly take place.”

She said the goal of the Kingdom contract was to deter and punish those who commit environmental crime.

She added: “But it is clear the approach wasn’t right for everyone and so, after listening to the feedback and meeting with many residents, we have decided to end the contract by mutual consent.

“We will now take some time to reconsider our wider litter and dog fouling strategy. Later this year, we will launch an extensive consultation with residents to help develop a new method of prevention which works for local people and keeps our beautiful borough litter-free.”