The Vectis National Party was a minor

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

operating on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in the early 1970s. Formed in 1967,Adam Grydehøj and Philip Hayward
"Autonomy Initiatives and Quintessential Englishness on the Isle of Wight"
Island Studies Journal, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2011, p.185 the party sought

Crown dependency The Crown Dependencies are three offshore island territories in the British Islands that are self-governing possessions of the British Crown: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey, both located in the English Channel and toge ...

status for the Isle of Wight, on a similar model to certain other islands including the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

. They were motivated by a belief that the sale of the Isle of Wight to the English crown in 1293 was unconstitutional. The party contested the Isle of Wight constituency in the 1970 general election when candidate R. W. J. Cawdell, a councillor for Ryde, polled 1,607 votes (2.8% of the Wight vote). The party led it to undertake symbolic direct action, such as an intra-island postal service during the 1971 postal strike. That year it narrowly lost a local government election. It also led campaigns for the establishment of an Isle of Wight specific radio service (which eventually came into being in 1990) and for a regional television service.David Boothroyd, ''The History of British Political Parties'', Politico's, 2001, p. 333 The party's failure to convince the electorate to break from the traditional parties however led to disillusionment amongst members and by the mid 1970s the party had been wound up. In 2006, Ray Stokes attempted to revive the VNP, emphasizing two aspects: an economically opportunistic deployment of islandness and a conservative, nostalgic impulse. The party was opposed to housing development that would lead to increased migration to the island, and to a fixed link to the island of Great Britain.Adam Grydehøj and Philip Hayward, op. cit., p.186 The revived party did not contest any election.

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