Panantir's police contract lawsuit set for 2027

Tech company Palantir has claimed it was unlawfully blocked from a £50m contract with the Metropolitan Police over City Hall's objections to its "values and ethics", according to court documents.

The firm is suing the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) after it refused to approve the deal earlier this year, which Palantir's lawyers called an "unlawful veto".

In written submissions MOPAC's barrister Joseph Barrett KC said Palantir had "provided no evidence whatever" to support its claims.

At a preliminary hearing on Thursday, Mr Justice Constable said that a full hearing of the case would take place in January 2027.

Barrett said MOPAC's decision not to approve the deal was "obviously within the range of options" open to it.

He added that the mayor's policing office and the Met were "working together on a new, competitive procurement" for the contract, and that Palantir was "free, and indeed positively welcomed, to participate in this new, lawful and transparent competitive process".

The Met had said it wanted to use Palantir's technology to speed up tasks such as searching through reports and phone data. It is already used by the NHS and the Ministry of Defence, while some police organisations have also used the company's tech.

But MOPAC said the force had failed to present its procurement strategy in a "clear and serious breach" of procedure, and Palantir was the only bidder seriously considered for the contract.

Shortly after the £50m contract was blocked, Palantir's UK chief executive Louis Mosley accused London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan of "putting politics over public safety".

Critics of Palantir have pointed out the company's funding links to the CIA, leading to allegations around surveillance, its contracts with the Israeli Defence Force, and its co-founder Peter Thiel being a major donor to Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

The tech company filed a legal claim against MOPAC at the High Court in June, seeking an order that the contract be awarded.

In court documents setting out Palantir's claim, Lord Pannick KC said the Met approached the company about the contract in April, and understood that it had been selected as the supplier by May.

But Lord Pannick said that press articles on MOPAC's refusal to approve the deal cited concerns about Palantir's values and ethics.

These included a Guardian article in April quoting a spokesperson for the mayor of London's office who said: "As a general point, the mayor would have concerns about using public money to support firms who act contrary to London's values."

Lord Pannick said MOPAC's assessment of Palantir's "values and ethics" had played an "unlawful and non-transparent role" in the decision-making process.

In June the deputy mayor for policing and crime Kaya Comer-Schwartz told the London Assembly's Police and Crime Committee she had rejected the deal over value-for-money concerns.

"I make no apologies for making sure that we have the right oversight over significant amounts of money," she said.

"Our job is to make sure that, on behalf of Londoners, there is value for money in these contracts."

In June, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley warned of potential cuts to front-line police services and officer numbers following the decision to block the Palantir deal.

Sir Mark said that the impact could be reduced if a new deal were to be made, but warned that "any new procurement process that meets MOPAC's expectations is likely to take at least a number of months".

The force had proposed a £25.3m deal with Palantir for 2026-27 to support criminal investigations and internal reform. It included an optional one-year extension worth a further £24.8m.

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