L

Lord Coaker (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 11 February 2026

Debate

Ministry of Defence: Palantir Contracts

Contribution

Again, that is an extremely important point. There are two things. Of course, single source is something that you try to avoid by having open competition, but there are circumstances where single-source contracts are in the interests of our country. Alongside that, as my noble friend hinted, we are trying to ensure that we develop UK industry and business as well. He will be interested that, as part of the enterprise agreement, it was announced in December 2025 that Palantir would commit £1.5 billion-worth of money to grow British business—to grow small and medium-sized enterprises—and develop skills right across the UK. We were conscious of the fact that it was a contract to a US-based company, as prestigious as it is, and wanted to ensure that the UK gained benefit from it as well. I hope that reassures my noble friend that, to some extent, we took the UK into account with that enterprise arrangement as well.

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