As Andy Burnham begins his first parliamentary term as Prime Minister, he confronts a significant political test involving Palantir, the American technology firm that his former mayoral administration in Manchester famously excluded from local data systems. Sources within Westminster indicate that Burnham is under intensifying pressure from colleagues to terminate the company’s controversial agreement with the National Health Service (NHS), a dispute that could define the initial phase of his premiership.
Palantir currently holds approximately £670 million in public sector contracts spanning defense, policing, and healthcare. The focal point of the opposition is the company’s £330 million deal to manage data on the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP). Although rumors circulated during the Labour leadership race that Burnham would block such partnerships, those reports were later retracted. However, campaigners are now urging the Prime Minister to invoke a termination clause in the NHS contract, which is scheduled to expire in 2027.
The issue has exposed a fractious divide within the Labour Party. Veteran officials and leading ministers have adopted a cautious stance favoring the continuation of the provider relationship, while the party’s left-leaning grassroots and influential backbench MPs are demanding an end to the partnership. This tension is compounded by significant public opposition; an official petition regarding the right to opt out of the FDP recently surpassed 10,000 signatures, prompting the government to state it would consider the matter in future policy-making. A separate, non-official petition calling for Palantir’s complete removal from the NHS has garnered 177,000 signatures.
According to three Whitehall sources speaking to WIRED, any decision to cancel the contract must be made within the coming weeks to allow sufficient time for either onboarding an alternative provider or bringing the service in-house. Delaying past the autumn risks disrupting the transition of critical services.
Many of Burnham’s key supporters, who hail from the soft left, share deep skepticism toward privatization and desire to see the firm’s influence in British governance diminished. Opposition is particularly organized within the Socialist Campaign Group, a faction of experienced Labour MPs. Rachael Maskell, a prominent Burnham ally, has been vocal in her resistance. In an April parliamentary debate, she cited her background as an NHS clinician, arguing that patient trust is essential for positive health outcomes and urging the government to end the contract with what she described as a US spytech company deeply embedded in national health data.
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