Overview
- The Mayor of London formally vetoed the Metropolitan Police’s proposed roughly £50 million deal with Palantir, a decision reported on Thursday that halts the planned expansion of the force’s use of the company’s AI data‑analysis tools.
- City Hall said the Met only engaged a single supplier and failed to present a required procurement strategy for approval, which it said breached rules for large police IT purchases.
- The Met and Palantir warned the block will damage investigations and force cuts to police capacity, with the force saying the deal’s collapse could lead to about 1,150 job losses.
- Campaign groups and human‑rights organisations pointed to Palantir’s existing contracts with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and with Israeli security services as ethical reasons to object to the company’s deeper role in UK public services.
- Legal experts say the Mayor’s veto could face a judicial review on grounds such as irrationality or bias, so a court challenge is a plausible next step and could determine whether the veto stands or the procurement must be re-run.