--- title: "MPs Urge Labour to Drop the 330 Million Pound Palantir NHS Data Contract" description: "A cross-party group of MPs has urged the UK government to end a 330 million pound contract with the US firm Palantir to run a major NHS data platform, warning of public and professional mistrust. The government says it is open to alternatives; Palantir says it does not own or exploit patients' data." category: "Politics" category_url: https://newsparlor.com/category/politics author: "James Whitmore" published: 2026-07-09T19:48:00.000Z updated: 2026-07-09T19:48:00.000Z canonical: https://newsparlor.com/article/mps-urge-labour-to-drop-the-330-million-pound-palantir-nhs-data-contract tags: ["nhs", "palantir", "data-privacy", "united-kingdom", "politics"] --- # MPs Urge Labour to Drop the 330 Million Pound Palantir NHS Data Contract A cross-party group of MPs has urged the UK government to end a 330 million pound contract with the US firm Palantir to run a major NHS data platform, warning of public and professional mistrust. The government says it is open to alternatives; Palantir says it does not own or exploit patients' data. A cross-party committee of MPs has called on the UK government to walk away from a 330 million pound contract with the American data-analytics company Palantir, which runs a central platform for pooling and analyzing NHS data, arguing that deep mistrust of the arrangement risks undermining the health service's own goals. The government has signaled it is willing to look at alternatives; Palantir has strongly defended its role. ## What the MPs want The House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee has recommended that ministers use a break point in the contract, due in early 2027, to end the deal rather than extend it, and to start lining up other providers now, [the Guardian reported](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/09/mps-urge-labour-to-ditch-330m-palantir-software-contract-with-nhs). The committee warned of "serious mistrust" of the Palantir-built Federated Data Platform among both the public and medical staff, arguing that if people do not trust how their health data is handled, they may be less willing to share it, blunting the benefits the system is supposed to deliver, [The Register reported](https://www.theregister.com/public-sector/2026/07/09/mps-tell-nhs-to-start-packing-palantirs-bags-ahead-of-2027-contract-break/). ## The concerns Critics of the contract raise several objections. Some point to the risk that data held by a US company could be exposed to American legal demands. Others object to Palantir's other lines of work, including contracts tied to immigration enforcement and to military operations, arguing these make it an uncomfortable partner for the NHS. There have also been questions about how much access Palantir staff have had to patient records, and about the transparency of the process that awarded the deal. ## The other side The government has not committed to ending the contract. Ministers have said they are "no fan" of some of Palantir's wider activities but defend the platform itself, and the health secretary has said that if other providers could do the job better, that would be looked at. Palantir, for its part, rejects the central worry about data. A senior company executive said Palantir "has no interest in patient data in the UK," that it does not own the data or use it for its own purposes, and likened its role to that of ordinary software running inside the NHS. NHS England says strict rules and audits govern who can access patient information. ## Why it matters The dispute sits at the intersection of two things people feel strongly about: their health service and their personal data. The Federated Data Platform is meant to help the NHS join up information and work more efficiently, a genuine prize given the pressures on the system. But trust is the currency such a project runs on, and that is exactly what the MPs say is lacking. With a decision point approaching in 2027, the government now faces a choice between sticking with a system it says is performing and heeding a warning that public confidence, once lost, is hard to rebuild. ## Sources - [MPs urge Labour to ditch the 330m Palantir software contract with the NHS](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/09/mps-urge-labour-to-ditch-330m-palantir-software-contract-with-nhs) - [MPs tell the NHS to prepare to move on from Palantir ahead of a 2027 contract break](https://www.theregister.com/public-sector/2026/07/09/mps-tell-nhs-to-start-packing-palantirs-bags-ahead-of-2027-contract-break/)