MPs urge Labour to ditch £330m Palantir software contract with NHS

MPs on the health and social care select committee cited ‘serious mistrust’ of its NHS system among the general public and the medical profession. Photograph: Chris Rout/Alamy View image in fullscreen MPs on the health and social care select committee cited ‘serious mistrust’ of its NHS system among the general public and the medical profession. Photograph: Chris Rout/Alamy MPs urge Labour to ditch £330m Palantir software contract with NHS Cross-party group backs call from science and technology committee to look at alternative options, citing ‘serious mistrust’ A second parliamentary committee has urged Labour to scrap Palantir’s £330m contract with the NHS, increasing pressure on the next prime minister over government deals with the US tech company. MPs on the health and social care select committee want the NHS to cut ties with Palantir and find a replacement for its system, which is supposed to unify and analyse huge amounts of often highly sensitive NHS health data. Palantir, cofounded by the Trump-supporting tech billionaire Peter Thiel , also works for the US, Israeli and UK militaries, and the cross-party group of MPs cited “serious mistrust” among the public and the medical profession of its NHS system, contested evidence of its benefits, and cited the availability of other tools that could deliver similar results. The MPs backed calls last month from the science and technology committee to exercise a February 2027 break clause in the deal and either develop an in-house replacement to the federated data platform (FDP) or seek a UK alternative. Up to 117 NHS data and technology workers broke ranks to call for the deal to be axed, warning that patient privacy protections were inadequate and that a loss of public trust could harm the quality of vital health data. View image in fullscreen Health workers protest outside the London headquarters of Palantir in December 2023. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA In a letter to the health secretary, James Murray, they said: “Data completeness will be compromised by the erosion of patient trust; data privacy protections are inadequate and data structures are at risk of misuse.” One signatory, a senior data professional who requested anonymity, said: “The FDP has not shown me any significant technological benefits whatsoever. A frankly mediocre software is being forced on NHS data systems at the expense of patient trust, professional integrity and the fundamental values of the NHS. How can we say we want to use software for saving lives when that same software is also used to kill and ruin lives?” Alex Karp, Palantir’s chief executive, last year responded to a claim that its technology kills Palestinians, by saying: “mostly terrorists, that’s true” . View image in fullscreen Alex Karp, the CEO of Palantir Technologies. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters In May, Sadiq Khan, the London mayor, blocked the Metropolitan police from awarding a £50m contract to Palantir after saying Londoners only wanted to s