UK Labour members push to cancel Palantir health data contract

Delegates at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool are seeking to pressure the UK government to cancel a £330 million (nearly $438 million) NHS contract with US technology company Palantir.

An emergency motion submitted to the conference calls on the Department of Health and Social Care to exercise a break clause in its contract with Palantir over the company's operation of the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP).

The FDP uses Palantir's AI-powered data analytics software to bring together information from across the health service, allowing hospitals to analyse data more easily and identify potential improvements.

The motion, submitted by the Labour-affiliated Socialist Health Association and at least three constituency Labour parties, raises concerns over Palantir's alleged involvement in human rights violations.

It says the company is "facing numerous allegations of involvement in serious breaches of human rights, including due to it developing technology for Israel's military to use in its unlawful occupation of Palestinian land and genocide in Gaza."

The motion also highlights the appointment of Labour peer and former deputy leader Tom Watson as senior vice president at Palantir UK.

Its authors argue that "links between senior politicians and private companies creates distrust amongst voters, particularly where public contracts are awarded… the Labour government has a responsibility to uphold public trust in politics."

Both the Science and Technology Committee and Health and Social Care Committee have called for the government to invoke the February 2027 termination clause of the FDP contract, which was signed in 2023. The British Medical Association and the union Unison have also called for the clause to be used.

Rathi Guhadasan, chair of the Socialist Health Association, said: "Palantir's human rights record is easily enough to disqualify it from government contracts - from its use in Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, to Israel's use of its technology to target Palestinians in its genocide in Gaza."

"But even on its own terms, a growing body of evidence within the NHS shows its technology is not fit for purpose or cost effective," she added.

The conference committee will decide Saturday whether the emergency motion will be debated and voted on during Labour's annual gathering in Liverpool, which begins Sunday.

The motion is backed by Momentum and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.