Palantir adds three UK police forces to its beat with £10.1M deal
Three UK police forces led by Cambridgeshire Constabulary have awarded Palantir a £10.1 million contract after London Mayor Sadiq Khan blocked a separate deal with the Metropolitan Police.
Key points
- The five-year agreement covers Bedfordshire Police, Cambridgeshire Constabulary, and Hertfordshire Constabulary, despite warnings from campaigners and politicians about dependence on the supplier.
- She said she had never lobbied or advocated for Palantir, or introduced the company to her contacts.
- Separately, Khan stepped in to block the Met from awarding a £50 million contract to Palantir.
News of the award coincided with revelations that former Metropolitan Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick has worked as a paid adviser to Palantir since September 2025.
The new police contract award follows a report from MPs warning of vendor lock-in to US suppliers, including Palantir.
Additional details
- It said: "Our view that Palantir's increasing presence across the public sector represents an unacceptable point of weakness is not ideologically motivated or driven by concerns about the quality of their products.
- "The government should retain the ability to pick and choose individual suppliers and safeguard against the risk of vendor lock-in and debilitating dependencies, particularly in areas of critical national importance such as healthcare and national security infrastructure." ®.
- Dick led the Metropolitan Police, the UK's largest force, between 2017 and 2022.
- Palantir later sued the Met, but the case was settled in October.
- His office cited serious concerns about the procurement process.
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