Protesters have gathered outside Coventry Council House demanding the city cut ties with US technology giant Palantir, amid growing anger over the company’s links to the Israeli military and its role in sensitive council services.
Campaigners from Drop Palantir Coventry demonstrated this week as pressure keeps building on Coventry City Council over its relationship with the American data and AI company. The council renewed its Palantir agreement earlier this year in a £750,000 deal for its second year, despite opposition from trade unions, campaigners and some councillors. Palantir’s technology is used across children’s and adult services, helping process information and reduce administrative workload for staff, which makes the dispute particularly sensitive given the nature of the data those departments handle.
Campaigners object both to the technology’s use in these public services and to Palantir’s work elsewhere, particularly its relationship with the Israeli military. Coventry City Council has now agreed it wants to move away from Palantir, but campaigners aren’t happy with how long that could take.
Councillors voted to move away from Palantir
This week’s protest follows a significant vote at Coventry City Council in June. A motion from Green councillor Matt Greenhalgh called on the authority to examine the practicalities of ending its Palantir contract “at the next lawful opportunity.” Councillors backed it. The motion also called for the findings of an earlier review into the council’s Palantir use to be published, and for councillors to get further information on how the company’s systems are currently used and could be used in future. Council officers were asked to investigate alternatives, in-house development, open-source technology, UK-based suppliers, and collaboration with other public-sector organisations. The motion specifically flagged concerns about children’s data, describing it as among the most sensitive information the council holds.
Despite that vote, the relationship isn’t ending immediately. The council says existing contractual arrangements mean nothing can happen before February 2028, and has warned that moving away from Palantir could take another 12 to 18 months once that’s possible, since any replacement system needs proper development, testing and rollout. For campaigners, that means the fight is far from over.
Why Coventry Council uses Palantir at all
Palantir is best known for software capable of analysing and connecting huge quantities of data, with clients including governments, intelligence agencies, militaries and major corporations. Coventry initially agreed a £500,000-a-year deal before renewing at £750,000, a figure confirmed by an official Freedom of Information response published by the council.
The technology started with a pilot in children’s services, helping social workers transcribe and summarise case records, and has since expanded. Reports on the council’s relationship with Palantir say it’s also used to check documents submitted by low-income residents applying for financial support, as well as within adult services. Supporters of using AI and data technology in councils argue automating admin work frees frontline staff to spend more time directly with residents. The identity of the specific company providing that technology is what’s turned this contract into a genuine political battle.
Why Palantir draws this much controversy
Palantir was co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel and has become one of the world’s most powerful data technology companies. Its work with governments and military organisations has repeatedly drawn scrutiny. The company has provided technology to the Israeli Ministry of Defence and announced a strategic partnership with Israel in 2024 to supply technology intended to support the country’s war effort. It’s also worked extensively with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Those relationships have led campaigners to question whether British public bodies should be handing the company lucrative contracts involving sensitive public data. The controversy reaches well beyond Coventry, Palantir was awarded the NHS Federated Data Platform contract, originally worth up to £330m. MPs on the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee raised concerns earlier this year about the company’s growing footprint across British public services and called for greater transparency over its access to NHS data. Human rights organisations have separately campaigned for the NHS to end its relationship with Palantir over the Israel links. Palantir rejects many of these criticisms of how its technology is actually used.
Gaza links at the centre of the Coventry protests
For many campaigning in Coventry, Gaza sits at the centre of the opposition. Palantir’s relationship with the Israeli government and military has faced intense scrutiny throughout the war, and the company has publicly defended it. Chief executive Alex Karp has been especially outspoken, repeatedly defending Palantir’s work with Western governments and allies and rejecting activist criticism. Palantir says it provides technology rather than making military targeting decisions itself, a distinction that hasn’t satisfied campaigners who argue Coventry shouldn’t be spending public money with a company involved in military technology used by Israel.
That argument carries particular weight in Coventry, a city that’s long promoted itself internationally as a City of Peace and Reconciliation, an identity that featured prominently in the council debate. Critics argue there’s a genuine contradiction between that commitment and maintaining a commercial relationship with a company supplying technology to the Israeli military. Not everyone agrees, during the debate, Reform councillor Frank Beechey argued numerous major tech and defence companies have products used in international conflicts, warning that applying the same standard consistently could make procurement extremely difficult.
A £3 million question
There’s a financial dimension too. Green councillors have warned the council risks becoming increasingly dependent on Palantir technology as its use expands. Greenhalgh told councillors that staying with the company across a full five-year period could cost the council over £3m in total. The underlying worry is that the longer a public authority builds its systems around one company’s technology, the harder and more expensive it becomes to actually replace it, which is exactly why campaigners want Coventry to act now rather than let Palantir’s role become further embedded.
The council still has to balance those concerns against the practical reality of replacing technology running through sensitive public services. Any alternative needs to protect residents’ data, work reliably, and avoid disrupting social workers and other staff, which is why officials say walking away can’t happen overnight.
Pressure on the council isn’t going away
June’s vote was a real win for Palantir’s opponents, councillors formally asked for alternatives to be explored and for officials to examine ending the relationship at the next lawful opportunity. This week’s demonstration shows campaigners don’t think that’s enough. If existing arrangements run to 2028 and replacement takes another 12 to 18 months after that, Palantir could remain part of Coventry’s public services for years yet. For a city whose identity is so tied to peace and reconciliation, the argument over who should be trusted with some of its most sensitive public services isn’t going away with one council vote. Campaigners now want to know exactly when Coventry’s stated intention to leave Palantir actually turns into action.
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