UK Politics
Labour Keeps Palantir’s £330m NHS Deal After Its Own MPs Tried to Bin It
Yvette Cooper will not trigger the break clause on Palantir's £330 million NHS Federated Data Platform deal. Waiting lists stay above seven million.
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News | By Matt, Editor
Labour is keeping Palantir on a £330 million NHS data contract, even after its own MPs pressed ministers to bin it.
Yvette Cooper, the Health Secretary, will not trigger a break clause that could have ended the firm’s role by February, the Telegraph reported late on Wednesday, citing the Financial Times. Ministers say dumping the supplier now risks lengthening waiting lists that have stayed above seven million throughout Labour’s time in office.
That is a hard sell on the Labour left. For two years Palantir has been a hate-figure for backbenchers who object to its work for the Israeli military and for US immigration authorities. Pro-Palestine activists have picketed hospitals. Early-day motions and open letters piled up. The first break clause, written into the seven-year Federated Data Platform deal that began in March 2024, was their chance to force the firm out.
Have your sayTap to commentKey facts
- Palantir holds the seven-year contract to run the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP), worth about £330 million, which began in March 2024.
- The first break clause could be triggered in February 2027. Cooper will not use it, according to the FT and Telegraph.
- Ministers are drawing up plans for a British alternative, with a view to replacing Palantir in about two years.
- The NHS waiting-list backlog has remained above seven million under Labour. The government still aims for 92% of patients to be treated within 18 weeks by the next election – a target unmet since 2016.
- Left-wing Labour MPs and pro-Palestine campaigners have led calls to scrap the deal over Palantir’s work for the Israeli military and for US immigration authorities.
- Andy Burnham, when he was still outside No 10, was reported by the Telegraph in July to be considering using the break clause. Cooper has now closed that door.
Why the Left wanted Palantir out
For months, backbench Labour MPs have treated the Palantir contract as a loyalty test. Campaign groups framed February 2027 as the moment to tell the Health Secretary there should be “No Palantir in our NHS”. The politics was simple: a US firm with Israeli and border-enforcement clients had no place in British hospitals.
Cooper’s answer, briefed overnight, is the opposite: keep them. The review concluded it would not be practical to replace the platform in the next four months. Waiting lists come first, ministers say, even if that means keeping a US tech firm the party’s left despises.
The compromise on offer is a British replacement “in about two years”. That buys time. It also leaves Palantir inside the NHS through the next election cycle, collecting fees while Labour tries to hit a waiting-list target it has so far missed.
What patients get – and what they don’t
The FDP is meant to help hospitals share data and cut wasted appointments. Digital Health and The Register have separately reported rows over how NHS England counts “benefits” at trusts that say they are not even using the system. Patients, meanwhile, still face a backlog above seven million.
Labour promised to fix waiting lists. Keeping Palantir is now sold as the way to avoid making them worse. A British replacement is promised later. No firm date for that retender has been fixed beyond the two-year window.
The timing is awkward for a government already under fire on taxpayer money and ministerial perks. This week we reported Wes Streeting moving into the £70m Carlton Gardens mansion and Labour’s water plan loading £2,700 of debt onto every household. A £330 million tech keep-or-bin fight lands in the same week.
Reform’s line – and the career-politician charge
Reform has spent the week attacking Labour as a party of career politicians who have never run anything real. Nigel Farage used the launch of Reform’s new Shadow Armed Forces Minister to say Britain is “run by useless, career politicians”. Richard Tice called one Labour defence line “negligent stupidity”.
Reform’s wider offer on public services is to stop managed decline and put British priorities first. The Palantir keep-or-bin row sits in the same frame: who actually runs the state, and for whose benefit. A party that spent months telling activists the firm was untouchable is now telling patients the firm is indispensable.
None of that answers the basic question patients will ask: if the platform is so vital that it cannot be switched off in four months, why did Labour spend two years letting its own MPs treat the supplier as political poison?
Our view
You can hate Palantir’s other clients and still notice the contradiction. Labour’s left spent months demanding the firm be thrown out of the NHS. Labour’s Health Secretary is now keeping the £330 million deal because waiting lists are still a mess. That is not a principled stand. It is an admission that the backlog comes first, and that the protest politics was for the camera.
Patients do not care whether the software logo is American or British. They care whether the list moves. If Cooper is right that dumping Palantir now would make it worse, she should say so in the Commons, not only through a late-night brief. If she is wrong, the break clause is there for a reason.
Should Labour end Palantir’s £330m NHS data contract now? Vote in our poll below.
Sources
- The Telegraph, 5 November 2026: Labour set to extend Palantir NHS contract despite backbench pressure
- Financial Times, 5 November 2026: UK prepares to extend Palantir’s NHS Federated Data Platform deal (as reported by the Telegraph and shared on X)
- Digital Health, November 2026: NHS England to demand Palantir clears FDP benefit claims
- The Register, 3 November 2026: NHS counts Palantir benefits at trusts that say they are not using it
- Posts on X by MikeLongTerm, GB News, Suella Braverman, Nigel Farage, Richard Tice and Reform UK (embedded above)
- Main image: Yvette Cooper, UK Government, Wikimedia Commons, OGL v3.0 (cropped)
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