The New Dark Age

Tuesday, 31 March 2026 — Foxglove

I have some very positive updates to share about the campaign to get Palantir out of the NHS.

At the weekend, the Financial Times reported that “UK ministers have sought advice on triggering a break clause in Palantir’s contract as they come under mounting pressure to eject the controversial American company from NHS England data systems.”

The FT report suggests that officials have begun quietly exploring the technical process of removing Palantir from NHS systems – well ahead of the break clause date in February 2027. One senior government figure told the paper: “We are confident we could do it if we wanted to.” Another health official confirmed the department had been looking internally at whether they could trigger the break clause and what that would involve.

The FT also reported that some hospital trusts have been slow to adopt Palantir’s software because they simply don’t find it useful – while the health department has been pushing them to use it anyway, partly to get value out of what’s already been paid. One senior NHS figure described a demonstration for hospital chief executives where only half were impressed and the other half said they’d been doing the same thing for ten years.

This feels like a significant shift. For three years, since the contract was awarded under the previous Conservative government, the campaign to end Palantir’s role in the NHS has been growing – and it now looks like behind-the-scenes ministers may be starting to listen.

And here’s a nice detail. The Financial Times illustrated its story with a picture featuring Foxglove’s Co-Executive Director Martha Dark, alongside Hope Worsdale from our allies at Just Treatment, delivering a petition against Palantir which many of you signed. If you needed proof that this campaign is making an impact in Westminster, there it is!

So we are now asking supporters to sign an open letter to Health Secretary Wes Streeting – welcoming the fact he’s looking into the break clause, and urging him to start the process of removing Palantir from the NHS as soon as possible. Please can you add your signature today?

The FT story came just days after a drop-in session we co-hosted in parliament with Martin Wrigley MP, inviting MPs to hear why Palantir has no place in the NHS. We were joined by an incredible coalition of partners: patient advocacy campaigners Just Treatment, the Doctors Association UK, and the British Medical Association.

The event had a great turnout. MPs and peers attended from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP and Plaid Cymru – and several told us they had decided to come after receiving emails from Foxglove supporters. So if you emailed your MP asking them to attend: thank you. It made a real difference.

Whilst all this is very heartening, after years of campaigning which has often felt like an uphill struggle, we’re not there yet. Exploring triggering the break clause in the contract is not the same as actually kicking Palantir out of the NHS. Ministers could still decide to let the contract run on – and we know that Palantir will be using every lobbying trick in the book to try to persuade them to do just that.

The more pressure, the better. That’s why we’re now asking supporters to sign an open letter to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, calling on him to trigger the break clause and start the process of removing Palantir from the NHS. Can you add your name?

The more signatures we can deliver, the harder it will be for ministers to look the other way. We’ll keep you posted on our next steps.

Thank you for being part of this campaign. After three years of hard work by Foxglove supporters, medical professionals, patients and parliamentarians – it really does feel like the tide could be turning.

More to come soon.

Tom

Tom Hegarty, Head of Communications, Foxglove

MORE INFORMATION:

Foxglove blog post on the parliamentary drop-in and FT story: https://www.foxglove.org.uk/2026/03/27/no-palantir-drop-in-martin-wrigley-westminster-health-data/

Financial Times: Ministers explore triggering break clause in Palantir’s NHS contract (paywalled): https://www.ft.com/content/2d2b1af1-edea-4fd0-a081-3811e34bc52e

The Register: UK government signals shift from Palantir: https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/20/uk_palantir_contracts/

BMA calls on doctors to pull back from Palantir platform: https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/11/bma_palantir_nhs/