POLITICAL banners have been ripped out and an anonymous letter posted through a candidate's door, according to the leader of the Isle of Wight Green Party.

Vix Lowthion, IW Green Party chair, said the incidents, in different wards, had been reported to police and statements had been taken.

She vowed the intimidation would not stop Greens campaigning.

One 'Vote Green' sign, on Hyde Road in Shanklin, was snapped last week and put in a wheelie bin.

Isle of Wight County Press: One of the Green Party signs after being snapped.One of the Green Party signs after being snapped.

A taller replacement sign was put up on Saturday and within a couple of hours had suffered the same fate, with eyewitnesses reporting a person ‘limping away’ from the scene.

A further sign, this time on the Godshill Road, was subsequently removed.

The letter, allegedly posted through the door of an Isle of Wight Council candidate, asked that posters be removed from the candidate's garden.

It said: “We voted (overwhelmingly) in the last election for a Conservative government and to get Brexit done and we don’t want to be rude but your politics are not really welcome here.”

Isle of Wight County Press: The note posted anonymously to a county council candidate.The note posted anonymously to a county council candidate.

Ms Lowthion said: “It is alarming and upsetting that Islanders partaking in the democratic process are being subjected to such hate mail and attacks.

"Our Green Party candidates are a close knit group, and we have rallied around to support this valued member of the 'Green Team'.

"We thank the police for their swift response.

“We will not be intimidated by destructive actions, because we know the vast majority of Islanders support our democratic right to stand in an election, stick up posters and put forward a positive future for the people of the Isle of Wight."