Myleene Klass is facing a backlash after her comments on “mansion tax” – with a petition calling for her to be dropped as the face of Littlewoods.

The former pop star criticised Ed Miliband’s so-called mansion tax when she appeared on The Agenda, saying plans to impose heavy taxes on homes worth more than £2 million would affect Londoners and elderly home-owners, who have had the properties in their families for many years.

Myleene was then slated for her “deeply insensitive and ignorant comments”, and a petition was launched to get Littlewoods to end its business relationship with the mum-of-two.

The petition on Change.org – which has thousands of signatures so far – says: “We the undersigned call upon you, Littlewoods to part company with Myleene Klass. This is because Miss Klass has shown herself to be an inappropriate representative for a brand such as yours which is aimed at customers who have to pay for their belongings in instalments because they cannot afford to pay up front.

“Littlewoods customers who pay weekly for the items they cannot afford to buy upfront – especially at Christmas time – are among the most hard hit by Britain’s current economic hardships. Littlewoods, there has been a huge public outcry from your customers who feel humiliated and demoralised by the comments of your public face Miss Myleene Klass.

A picture of Myleene Klass at a charity gala
A petition is calling for Littlewoods to drop Myleene Klass (Andrew Matthews/PA Wire/Press Association Images)

“Many feel – as you can read in the reasons people have given for signing this petition – that Miss Klass is an inappropriate representative for the company they buy from in instalments. Obviously these people are far from wealthy and many profess to be struggling very badly in these difficult financial times.”

However, a second petition has also been launched – this time, to ban the first petition.

It says: “Calling for a single mother to be sacked because of her political opinions is as absurd as it is ugly.”