UK Committee Highlights Tech Vendor Risks Including Palantir, Recommends Early NHS Contract Review

The UK Parliament’s Science, Innovation, and Technology Committee warned Tuesday that the country’s growing reliance on Palantir’s technology represents an unacceptable point of weakness that could hand the company overwhelming bargaining power. The 11-member committee said the risk stems from potential vendor lock-in.

Dame Chi Onwurah, chair of the committee, told Wired that long-term dependence produces more expensive and worse services.

She added that a deeply entrenched supplier could threaten to withhold service to impose its will. “That could bring public services and our economy to a halt,” Onwurah said. ” The committee recommended that the National Health Service activate a clause in its contract next February that would terminate the relationship early.

The UK government began using Palantir’s technology in 2020 to map the spread of Covid-19 and route medical equipment. Since then, Palantir and its partners have won contracts worth a combined $750 million with the NHS and the Ministry of Defense. The report also outlines similar dependencies on Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and Fujitsu, but states that Palantir concerns the committee most.

The committee pointed to comments by Palantir cofounder Peter Thiel, who in 2023 described British affection for the NHS as Stockholm syndrome, and to a 22-point manifesto based on a recent book by CEO Alex Karp that advocates overriding fealty to the United States.

“We have a key vendor saying they will exercise technology in accordance with their political mission,” Onwurah said. ” The committee said its objections are not ideologically motivated yet described a clear mismatch with UK values.

In July 2025, Louis Mosley, who heads Palantir’s European business, told the committee that the company’s objective is to support democratically elected governments and that it does not take political positions. Donald Campbell, director of advocacy at Foxglove, said Palantir should not be anywhere near British public services.

Eerke Boiten, a professor of cybersecurity at De Montfort University, said large vendors cannot be fully inspected and must be trusted with sensitive data.