Sadiq Khan has blocked a £50 million Metropolitan Police contract with the US tech company Palantir, citing a “clear and serious breach” of procurement rules. The London mayor intervened after Scotland Yard had agreed to use Palantir’s AI technology for intelligence analysis in criminal investigations.
The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (Mopac) vetoed the deal, stating that the Met had failed to obtain approval for its procurement strategy and had only seriously considered one supplier. In a letter to Met Commissioner Mark Rowley, Deputy Mayor Kaya Comer-Schwartz said no acceptable explanation had been provided for the breach, which created “legal and reputation risks”.
Scotland Yard criticised the decision as “disappointing”, warning it could affect officer numbers and public safety. A Met spokesperson said the force needed to modernise and use technology already available to the Ministry of Defence, the NHS and other police forces. The Met faces a £125 million funding shortfall and 1,150 job cuts.
The mayor’s office said tight budgets made it “even more important that robust processes are followed when awarding contracts as large as £25m a year”. The row has inflamed concerns over Palantir’s UK public contracts, given its co-founder Peter Thiel’s political links and its work with the Israeli military and US immigration enforcement.
Chi Onwurah, chair of the Commons science and technology committee, welcomed the decision, saying it addressed “vendor lock-in and dependence on a small number of large, US-based providers”. The Met previously awarded Palantir a smaller contract, just below the threshold for City Hall approval, to monitor staff behaviour.
