Labour Members Move to Cancel Palantir's £330m NHS Contract
An emergency motion submitted by the Socialist Health Association and at least three constituency parties asks the health department to trigger the break clause in Palantir’s Federated Data Platform contract. A conference committee decides today whether it is debated. The motion cites the appointment of the Labour peer Tom Watson as a senior vice-president at Palantir UK. Both the science and health select committees, the British Medical Association and Unison have called for the February 2027 termination clause to be used.
This is the kind of motion that is usually kept off the floor, which is why today’s committee decision matters more than the motion itself. The coalition behind it is unusually broad for a conference emergency motion — Momentum and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign alongside two parliamentary select committees, the doctors’ union and the largest public-sector union. Lord Watson’s own description of his new employer does the opposition’s work for it: “Palantir is the most interesting company on the planet, doing work of real consequence.” The department’s defence is operational: “The benefits of the FDP service are clear, with thousands more patients benefitting every month.” The underlying question is who holds NHS patient data and on what terms. Watch whether it reaches the floor.