UK Lawmakers Sound Alarm Over Palantir's Stranglehold on Public Sector

(MENAFN) A cross-party bloc of British parliamentarians sounded the alarm Wednesday over what they described as an "unacceptable point of weakness" in the United Kingdom's digital infrastructure — pointing directly at the growing footprint of pro-Israel US technology firm Palantir across the country's public sector.

In a sweeping report on the government's digital transformation agenda, the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee cautioned that mounting reliance on a handful of dominant technology suppliers — with Palantir, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services singled out by name — is leaving critical public services dangerously exposed while eroding the nation's technological sovereignty.

The committee's most pointed recommendation targets the National Health Service: lawmakers called on the government to activate a break clause in the NHS's Federated Data Platform contract with Palantir in 2027, urging ministers to either build a sovereign in-house alternative or transition to a UK-based provider.

The parliamentary warning lands against a backdrop of already-simmering tensions over Palantir's expanding reach in Britain. Earlier this year, London Mayor Sadiq Khan moved to block a proposed Metropolitan Police contract with the company — valued at more than $67 million — after senior officials flagged that the procurement process risked binding the force to a single supplier. City Hall concluded that the deal had generated both legal and reputational risks and had failed to adequately demonstrate value for money.

Together, the two episodes paint an increasingly urgent picture of a government grappling with how far it is willing to let a single foreign technology company embed itself into the UK's most sensitive public institutions.

MENAFN03062026000045017169ID1111205133