Labour conference blocks motion to cancel Palantir contract over Israeli army links - Middle East Eye

The Labour Party’s Conference Arrangements Committee (CAC) has blocked an emergency motion brought by party delegates on cancelling Palantir’s NHS contract over the company’s links to the Israeli military.

The motion, put forward at the party’s conference in Liverpool by the Labour-affiliated Socialist Health Association and at least three constituency parties, urged the government to cancel the £330m ($437m) contract to process NHS data with the controversial tech giant.

It said Palantir was “facing numerous allegations of involvement in serious breaches of human rights, including due to it developing technology for Israel's military to use in its unlawful occupation of Palestinian land and genocide in Gaza".

The motion said: "The Labour government has a responsibility to uphold public trust in politics, including in the awarding of public contracts, particularly where there are allegations of involvement in grave violations of international law."

But the Conference Arrangements Committee blocked the motion during the conference. Middle East Eye understands the CAC judged the motion did not meet the requisite criteria to be debated, but delegates and campaigners have questioned the decision.

Jon Byrne, a councillor from Hazel Grove Constituency Labour Party (CLP), one of the CLPs which submitted the motion, said in the conference hall on Monday morning: “I wish to question the CAC on its rejection of our emergency motion on Palantir’s NHS contracts, on the company’s involvement in the genocide in Gaza and on transparency on the control of decisions on contracts. 

“We fully accept the CAC’s authority to make the decision but we ask that a detailed explanation is provided why our argument was rejected.”

The CAC said it would email the constituency parties which put forward the motion.

The motion was also backed by Momentum, a left-wing group within Labour, as well as the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).

Dan Iley-Williamson, the political organiser at the PSC, told MEE: “Labour members - just like people up and down the country - are disgusted that a company deeply implicated in Israel’s ongoing genocide and apartheid against Palestinians has this £330 million NHS contract."

Iley-Williamson added: “It is deeply disappointing that Labour blocked this emergency motion, demonstrating that while the foreign secretary today said protesters for Palestine 'were right', the government is still refusing to match that with action.”

MEE has contacted the CAC for comment.

Since 2020, Palantir, the US data surveillance firm with links to Israeli abuses in occupied Palestine, has won over £670m in contracts with British civil and defence sectors.

In January 2024, Palantir announced a partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Defence to deploy its technology in support of “war-related missions” that use drone-fired missiles to target civilians in Gaza, including journalists and aid workers.

In April 2025, Palantir's chief executive Alex Karp responded to accusations that Palantir technology had enabled the killing of Palestinians in Gaza by saying “mostly terrorists, that’s true”.

A report produced by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese in July 2025 said there "are reasonable grounds to believe Palantir has provided automatic predictive policing technology, core defence infrastructure for rapid and scaled-up construction and deployment of military software, and its Artificial Intelligence Platform, which allows real-time battlefield data integration for automated decision-making".

The latest development comes after British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said to the millions who were "moved and outraged by the plight of the Palestinian people" that "we hear you, you were right" in his address to the Labour Party conference.

Miliband said on Monday morning that “under Andy [Burnham]’s leadership, we have reset our approach. We call out ethnic cleansing by the settler terrorists in the West Bank.

"We call out the evidence of war crimes in Gaza. We call out Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. And we match words with actions."

Earlier this month the British government declared the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory illegal, and announced both comprehensive sanctions on Israeli settlements and a ban on all arms licences and other exports that "materially contribute to the occupation".