UK Parliament Warns Palantir Dependency Creates National Risk

A bipartisan group of UK lawmakers has issued a stark warning about the country's expanding relationship with Palantir Technologies, calling the government's growing dependence on the U.S. data analytics company "an unacceptable point of weakness."

The Science, Innovation, and Technology Committee, composed of 11 members of Parliament, published a report Tuesday raising alarm about vendor lock-in risks that could give Palantir excessive leverage in future contract negotiations. The committee recommended that the National Health Service activate an early termination clause in its Palantir contract next February.

Why it matters

The warning highlights a critical tension facing governments worldwide: balancing digital transformation ambitions against sovereignty concerns when partnering with dominant technology vendors. With Palantir and its partners holding combined contracts worth $750 million across UK public services, the committee's concerns about dependency and values alignment could influence how other nations approach similar partnerships with U.S. technology firms.

From pandemic response to strategic concern

The UK government first deployed Palantir's technology in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to track virus spread and coordinate medical equipment distribution. Since then, the company has secured major contracts with both the NHS and the Ministry of Defense.

Dame Chi Onwurah, who chairs the committee, told WIRED that vendor lock-in inevitably leads to "more expensive and worse services" over time. In a worst-case scenario, she said, a deeply entrenched supplier could threaten to withhold service to impose its will, potentially bringing "public services and our economy to a halt."

Political values and strategic alignment

Beyond technical dependency, the committee identified what it called a "clear mismatch with UK values." The report cited politically charged statements by Palantir cofounder Peter Thiel, who in 2023 described British public affection for the NHS as "Stockholm syndrome." It also referenced a 22-point manifesto based on CEO Alex Karp's recent book that advocates for overriding loyalty to U.S. interests.

"We have a key vendor saying they will exercise technology in accordance with their political mission," Onwurah said. "If what the UK is trying to do in our NHS or our defense does not align with Palantir's political objectives, we clearly can't depend upon them as a supplier."

Louis Mosley, who leads Palantir's European business, told the committee in July 2025 that the company's objective is to "support democratically elected governments in delivering the mandate that they have been elected to deliver." He distanced the company from Thiel's NHS comments and said Palantir "represents a diversity of political views and does not take political positions as a company."

Broader dependency concerns

While the report also noted similar dependencies on Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and Fujitsu—the Japanese company at the center of the Post Office Horizon scandal—the committee wrote that "Palantir concerns us most."

Eerke Boiten, a professor of cybersecurity at De Montfort University, emphasized the trust required when handling sensitive data. "These companies are such a size, we can't really inspect what they're doing," he said. "If data needs to be operated on, in 99 percent of cases the provider will need to be able to see the data. That means you have to trust them."

The details were first reported by WIRED.