The New Dark Age

Thursday, 4 June 2026 — Foxglove

An influential committee of MPs has called on the government to urgently kick US spy tech firm Palantir out of our NHS by triggering a break clause in their contract.

Foxglove, our partners and many of you have been fighting to keep Palantir out of the NHS since 2020 so this is very welcome news.

Many Foxglove supporters will know exactly why the committee described Palantir as “the most concerning example” of Big Tech’s involvement in UK public services. But if you need a reminder, just keep reading.

This may signal the point of no return for Palantir. But we’re not there just yet.

The decision falls to new Health Secretary James Murray. MPs have told him to trigger the break clause – but to get this over the line he needs to know that thousands of people want him to act now.

Thank you for adding your name to the open letter to the Health Secretary demanding he do just that. Over 10,000 people have now signed. But, with Palantir’s future in our NHS hanging by a thread, every signature counts – and we need more.

Can you help by sharing the open letter with your friends and family on social media?

Or you can send an email using this this link: https://www.foxglove.org.uk/campaigns/james-murray-trigger-the-break-clause-and-get-palantir-out-of-the-nhs/

The committee’s comments pile a whole new level of pressure on the government, making it harder for them not to cancel Palantir’s £330m NHS contract using the break clause.

Let’s make sure that happens. At a time when Keir Starmer’s government desperately needs to show it’s listening, increasing public pressure is now the key to getting this over the line.

Foxglove and our partners have been fighting for this since 2020. We took legal action forcing the government to reveal the details of its secretive deals with Palantir, and we united MPs, NHS staff, NHS patients and many others to demand an end to this spy tech firm’s involvement in our healthcare system.

Every signature counts.

1. Palantir is a secretive US spy tech company with strong ties to Donald Trump and shady behind-the-scenes lobbying operations linked to Peter Mandelson.
2. Palantir founder Peter Thiel spent over $1 million to help elect Donald Trump. He wrote: “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible” and told the Oxford Students’ Union that British affection for the NHS is “Stockholm syndrome”.
3. Palantir has provided support to the Israel Defence Forces during the war in Gaza.
4. During Trump’s first term ICE used Palantir to run workplace deportation raids and seize family members of unaccompanied migrant children.
5. During Trump’s second term, Palantir reportedly became involved in the White House’s mass deportation programme and was contracted to build systems designed to help ICE identify and select “human targets” to deport.
6. The Financial Times recently revealed that Palantir has been given “unlimited access” to identifiable health records for NHS hospitals already using its systems – despite claims that wouldn’t happen.
7. The British Medical Association has “long opposed the involvement of Palantir in the provision of care in our NHS,” and recently raised concerns about the company’s involvement with ICE in facilitating the use of health data to hunt “illegal immigrants” in the US.
8. With plans for a new NHS ‘single patient record’ system, there is a
   very real danger of all GPs and hospitals being forced by law to hand
   over our complete medical records, with our names on them, to Palantir if its role in our NHS is expanded.
9. Originally funded by the CIA, Palantir’s core business has been providing big data and surveillance support to military, security, intelligence and police agencies.
10. Palantir has helped the US and UK’s digital spy agencies (NSA and GCHQ) manage mass surveillance programmes. This was one of the systems exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden for tracking millions of innocent people’s movements online.
11. Much of Palantir’s work is secret, but what we do know reveals a
    pattern of involvement in controversial programmes criticised for abusing poor people, migrants, and minoritised groups.
12. Many US police forces also use Palantir for “predictive policing” – widely criticised for unfair targeting black communities.
13. Palantir has reportedly supported air strikes in Donald Trump’s war in Iran as well as intelligence assessments, target identification and simulating battle scenarios.
14. Palantir provided intelligence software to power the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The exact nature of their involvement remains secret, and the value for money of their services was hotly disputed – Palantir sued the US over it.