VOTERS want Andy Burnham to bin the NHS’s contract with a controversial US tech firm which is linked to the genocide in Gaza and deadly anti-immigrant crackdowns in America, polling has revealed.
A study for Amnesty International UK found that most voters want the new Prime Minister to end the English health service’s £330 million contract with Palantir.
The company, founded by Peter Theil and Alex Karp, provides software to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and the US’s lethal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) squads.
A survey by Savanta for the human rights charity found that 64% of people in the UK thought it was important that Palantir’s NHS contract was binned because of its links with global human rights abuses.
Just 20% thought it was not important for the contract to be cancelled, the research found.
Palantir signed a contract with the IDF in 2024 for its technology to be used in “war-related missions”, according to Amnesty International, while the genocide in Gaza was unfolding.
Its software is also used by ICE to track migrants in the US, the charity said.
Kerry Moscogiuri, chief executive of Amnesty International UK, said: “It's welcome that Burnham has acknowledged that Labour got it wrong on Gaza. We now need to see him turn that recognition into a different approach in government that includes urgent concrete action to hold Israel accountable.
“This polling shows the strength of public support for human rights. Voters want leaders who are prepared to step up and do more to protect people's rights, dignity and security.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care said: "Thousands more patients are benefitting from the NHS Federated Data Platform every month, with an extra 110,000 of them having undergone procedures in operating theatres, while also reducing the number of unnecessary days patients stay in hospital following treatment by a seventh.
“The government is reviewing this contract ahead of the February 2027 break clause.”
Palantir was approached for comment.
