Legal fights over Brexit and devolution have cost the Welsh Government around £200,000, new data has shown.
The figures, obtained by the Welsh Conservatives through a Freedom of Information request, revealed the amount spent by the Welsh Government on court cases relating to Brexit and Westminster's subsequent Internal Markets Act.
The Welsh Conservatives have branded the expenses a "waste", but the government says it "makes no apologies" for challenging decisions which it believes infringed on devolution.
£84,364 was spent by the Welsh Government supporting businesswoman Gina Miller's 2017 case against the UK Brexit Secretary over the triggering of Article 50.
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The case resulted in the Supreme Court ruling that Article 50 could not be triggered without the formal consent of Parliament. The Welsh, Northern Irish and Scottish governments had argued for their consent also to be required, but this was unanimously rejected by the court.
£22,389 was spent on supporting Ms Miller's legal challenge following the prorogation (suspension) of Parliament in 2019.
Jeremy Miles, then Counsel General for Wales, participated in the case, along with his equivalent in Scotland, Labour's Shadow Attorney General Shami Chakrabarti and former Prime Minister John Major.
It had been feared that Boris Johnson's recommendation to suspend Parliament from 9th September until 14th October 2019 was an attempt to avoid scrutiny over the terms of Britain's exit from the EU, the deadline for which had been 31st October.
The Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the move was unlawful, and Parliament was reconvened.
A further £92,440 has been spent challenging the Internal Markets Act, which set out post-Brexit regulations for trading between the UK's four nations.
In its original Explanatory Notes, the UK government highlighted that the Act "will create a new limit on the effect of legislation made in exercise of devolved legislative or executive competence" - in other words, it would limit future lawmaking powers on the part of the Welsh Government.
The Act is a "protected enactment", meaning that the devolved governments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland cannot make any future changes to the Act in areas affecting their own countries - but Westminster can, as the government of the UK, if it chooses to do so.
In addition, the Act creates new public bodies for monitoring and advising on the new internal market for the UK - with no official governance or oversight role for any of the devolved governments.
"Consequently, this arrangement favours the interests of England as the UK Government," a Welsh Government report noted.
"The Bill will reduce the practical effect of many future laws passed by the Senedd, limiting the ability of the Senedd to deliver on the priorities of the people of Wales."
It's on these grounds that the Welsh Government has mounted its legal challenge.
General Mark Isherwood MS, Welsh Conservative and Shadow Counsel General, said: “It is appalling that instead of addressing record-long NHS waiting lists, the UK’s weakest education system, and boosting Britain’s lowest wages, Labour spent time and taxpayer money on opposing the UK’s democratically elected Government.
“Supporting cases designed to frustrate the UK leaving the European Union as demanded by the British and Welsh people, when the devolved Government’s role was irrelevant, is one thing, but to oppose the internal market which allows someone in Wales to sell produce in Scotland is madness, especially when the four governments in the UK are separately working together to create UK-wide frameworks that will ensure the security and integrity of the UK internal market.
“It is abundantly clear that Labour does not care for the real needs and desires of the Welsh people – they would prefer to preen and preach their socialist dogma before a Court instead.
“The voters of Wales would be entitled to ask that Labour refund the public coffers with the money they used to deny the will of the Welsh people and put borders up through the United Kingdom.
"Given there is a cost-of-living crisis, I hope Labour feel ashamed for squandering money like this.”
The Welsh Government responded: "We continue to work tirelessly to improve our health service and education system, strengthen our economy and tackle the climate emergency, delivering on the mandate given by the people of Wales.
"Our Programme for Government outlines a comprehensive programme of work to build a stronger, fairer, greener Wales.
“We make no apologies for standing up for the people of Wales and the democratically established devolution settlement when UK Government plans risk worsening outcomes for our communities.”
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