Andy Burnham, the Labour politician expected to become Britain’s next prime minister later this month, is reviewing whether to end the National Health Service’s £330 million contract with US data firm Palantir, according to The Telegraph. The review centres on the government’s broader artificial intelligence strategy and comes two years into Palantir’s seven-year NHS deal. No final decision has been announced.
Burnham is widely expected to assume the party leadership and enter Downing Street on 20 July if no challenger emerges, following Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation on 22 June 2026. His reported inclination to distance the NHS from Palantir represents one of the earliest and most politically charged decisions of his incoming administration.
Palantir currently operates the NHS Federated Data Platform, a seven-year contract worth £330 million signed in 2024 to help hospitals manage patient data. Beyond the NHS, the company also holds a £240 million deal with the Ministry of Defence and a £15 million contract related to Britain’s nuclear deterrent. Despite a lack of transparency around the full extent of Palantir’s dealings in UK public services, at least 34 contracts have been uncovered across sectors including the police, child social care, refugee schemes, and environmental work.
The key decision point is a contractual break clause in the NHS agreement due next March. According to The Telegraph, ministers have opened the possibility of ending the NHS agreement at that clause. Notice would need to be given in December if the government decides not to continue with the arrangement.
A spokesperson for Burnham told The Jewish Chronicle that he would not comment on individual procurement contracts or companies, and that “legal processes that must be followed.” The spokesperson added: “In general, Andy’s guiding principles on procurement are that we need to be getting value for money for the taxpayer and that we need to be safeguarding people’s data and British interests.”
Allies point to a specific and verifiable fact underpinning Burnham’s thinking: the Greater Manchester Combined Authority issued zero contracts to Palantir under his leadership between 2017 and last month. Greater Manchester Police separately confirmed earlier this year that it has held no Palantir contract in the past five years.
One figure involved in developing Burnham’s new technology strategy told the Financial Times it would place a new focus on ensuring AI works for domestic companies and the public rather than US tech giants, describing Starmer’s courting of American firms as “a geopolitical failure that hasn’t delivered on its intended aims and has also put the Labour government at odds with its voters and the vast majority of the British public.”
Conservative shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew mounted a direct defence of the contract. “If Andy Burnham tears up a programme that is improving patient care, he will have to explain why he chose politics over patients,” he told The Telegraph. “Driving them away for political reasons risks undermining confidence in partnering with the NHS. Patients should never pay the price for Labour’s political posturing.”
Palantir itself has pointed to concrete NHS performance data in response to the scrutiny. Louis Mosley, head of Palantir UK, said the company’s software has contributed to more than 110,000 additional operations, a 15 percent reduction in discharge delays, and a 6.8 percent increase in patients receiving cancer diagnoses within 28 days.
According to NHS figures, more than half of NHS trusts in England now use Palantir’s technology. Former NHS data engineering chief Tom Bartlett, who led the team that developed the Federated Data Platform, said former colleagues were “afraid to speak out” in support of the company’s work for fear of a backlash from activists.
The controversy over the NHS deal is not happening in isolation. In January 2024, Palantir announced a partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Defense to deploy its technology in support of “war-related missions” using drone-fired missiles. In April 2025, Palantir chief executive Alex Karp responded to accusations that the company’s technology had enabled the killing of Palestinians in Gaza by saying the victims were “mostly terrorists, that’s true.” Critics including Baroness Chakrabarti have asked in the House of Lords whether “public money, personal data, national security and reputation” should remain in the hands of a company they describe as implicated in human rights violations.
In February 2026, 21 Labour MPs signed a parliamentary motion condemning the Ministry of Defence for signing a separate £240 million contract with Palantir without a competitive tender. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has also attacked what she described as Palantir’s “right-wing” leadership and declined, on five separate occasions when asked, to say whether she believed the firm should have a continuing role in the healthcare system.
The backlash against Palantir has spread beyond Westminster. London Mayor Sadiq Khan in May decided to block a £50 million Metropolitan Police deal with Palantir, citing a “clear and serious breach” of procurement rules. Khan’s office said the force risked becoming locked into Palantir’s technology and that the deal had not demonstrated value for money. Khan has since backtracked, granting Palantir a 12-month pilot project after the company launched legal action against his veto. Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley warned that Khan’s original decision would make Londoners “less safe” and could result in between 500 and 700 officers being taken off frontline duties.
France has also moved away from the company after its domestic intelligence agency decided to terminate its contract.
Background
Palantir was founded by tech billionaire Peter Thiel, who famously declared “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible,” and was partially funded by the CIA at its inception. Company founder Thiel was an early supporter of Donald Trump, while chief executive Alex Karp has also expressed support for the former US president. The NHS Federated Data Platform contract was signed in 2024 under the previous Starmer administration and was intended to run for seven years, with a break clause due in March 2027. The issue was raised directly with Burnham and Labour activists during the Makerfield by-election campaign, suggesting Palantir’s role in public services has become a live doorstep issue rather than a purely Westminster-level debate. A cross-party Science, Innovation and Technology Committee report warned last month that the increasing reliance on Palantir across the UK’s public sector is an “unacceptable point of weakness” which could leave services “at the mercy” of foreign actors, and urged the government to trigger the 2027 break clause and develop an in-house replacement or seek an alternative UK provider.
What Happens Next
The government must notify Palantir by December 2026 if it intends to trigger the March 2027 break clause in the NHS contract. Burnham has not made a final decision and has not yet taken office. A Burnham spokesperson confirmed his administration will follow existing legal processes on procurement. Campaign group Foxglove has called on Burnham to use the break clause as an opportunity to end the contract and replace it with a domestic alternative, a position the group says aligns with Burnham’s stated preference for public interests over US technology companies. Palantir’s remaining contracts in Britain — including those with the Ministry of Defence, nuclear programme, and police forces — are expected to face increased parliamentary and public scrutiny as the new administration takes shape.
