A Green Party motion calling on Sheffield Health Trusts and the Integrated Care Board not to engage with an NHS contract with the US company Palantir was passed by Sheffield City Council last week
Proposing the motion Hillsborough Councillor Toby Mallinson said,
“Palantir, a US based surveillance firm has a business model that is fundamentally incompatible with the principles of a public health service. Its Chairman speaks against democracy and public service and for authoritarianism. His company enable and supports genocide as does, regrettably, the Labour Government. They both wilfully ignore the views of reputable genocide scholars, including Israeli ones, major human rights organisations including Israeli ones, the United Nations and both the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. The Government’s promotion of this contract is a gross dereliction of duty.
“We are promised a digital transformation of the NHS but what we have received is the outsourcing of our most sensitive patient data to a foreign provider that has built its reputation on immigration enforcement and defence surveillance. This is not innovation it is reckless gamble with the privacy of every resident in this city.
“We have political forces including Reform UK who in their document Operation‘Restoring Justice’ who have explicitly stated their ambition to use integrated state data linking the NHS, the Home Office and Police data as a mechanism for mass deportations
“By allowing Palantir to build the architecture for our health records, this Government has continued to lay the traps for a system which could, under a different administration, be weaponised against the very communities we represent. When you centralise data in the hands of a company designed for surveillance you are not only you aren’t just improving efficiency you are building a tool for state oppression. We must demand that this government triggers the 2027 break clause, we must reject the vendor lock in that hands control of our sovereign data to Silicon Valley. I urge this council to take a stand for data privacy, for the integrity of our NHS and against a future when our Health Service is repurposed as an arm of the immigration enforcement machine. It is time to cancel this contract.”
Nether Edge and Sharrow Ward Councillor Lynsey Angell in her maiden speech to the Council said,
“We know NHS England has awarded a £330 million contract to Palantir. This company has used medical data in the United States to target minority communities for deportation and provide support for Israeli atrocities in Palestine. This raises profound ethical and privacy concerns. Reputable organisations such as the BMA, Medact and Amnesty International have all sounded the alarm. A cross Parliamentary Committee recommended the Government exercises the break clause due to over reliance and a mismatch of values. Sheffield is not obliged to wait for Westminster to find its courage, Sheffield can lead.”
The motion passed with 62 votes in favour, 13 abstentions and 1 vote against.
Subsequent to the Palantir motion passing in Sheffield, London Labour Mayor, Sadiq Khan has granted Palantir a 12 month pilot project with the Metropolitan Police after initially opposing the contract.
In response Sheffield Green Group Deputy Leader Councillor Alexi Dimond said,
“We are of course pleased that we received support for our motion from Labour Councillors. What is profoundly disappointing is that when they have the power to stop companies like Palantir, Labour politicians backtrack and let the public down. We will be watching South Yorkshire Mayor, Oliver Coppard closely when he next Chairs the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Partnership when it next considers the deal with Palantir. ”
