The Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) spent £3.7m on legal costs during the last financial year, including more than £1.2m on Brexit-related litigation, its accounts have revealed.

The figures show legal costs represented DExEU's second most significant area of spending, behind staff costs of £14m for the year ending 31 March 2017.

Litigation costs represented roughly a third of the department's total legal spend during the year, with the bulk of the £1.2m in litigation costs relating to the high profile Article 50 legal challenge brought by a group of claimants including investment manager Gina Miller.

The remainder of the litigation costs (£78,000) related to Article 127 litigation, which concerns Britain's membership of the European Economic Area.

The two legal challenges cost the department £345,000 in legal fees, £383,000 in counsel fees and disbursements, and £493,000 in court-ordered third-party litigation costs.

Some £2.2m of the remaining legal costs related to routine fixed fee policy advice.

Mishcon de Reya took the lead role on the Article 50 challenge, with claimants successfully arguing that Article 50 should not be triggered without an act of parliament.

The government appealed the High Court's decision that parliament must vote on the triggering of Article 50, but the ruling was subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court.

Miller was represented in court by David Pannick QC of Blackstone Chambers, while the government was represented by UK attorney general Jeremy Wright QC and Blackstone's James Eadie QC.