Monmouth AM Nick Ramsay has called for an investigation after almost £2m of taxpayers’ money was spent on government credit cards in just one year.

Figures revealed that officials coughed up over £3,200 for a Chicago hotel, and another £1,876 for a limousine during First Minister Carwyn Jones’ trade visit last September.

Taxpayers also shelled out £1,652 during seven visits to the Michelin-starred James Sommerin restaurant in Penarth.

Mr Ramsay’s Welsh Conservatives said the figures, revealed on the Welsh Government website, proved government spending was ‘out of control’. The Monmouth AM has called for an investigation helmed by the auditor general for Wales.

Referring to financial year 2016/17, Mr Ramsay said, “The bill for Welsh Government credit cards is out of control, with staff spending more and more each year.

"The public needs to have confidence that the system isn’t being abused, and the raft of flamboyant transactions undertaken by civil servants will have eyes rolling,” said Mr Ramsay.

“The purpose of these cards is to reduce the bureaucratic cost of processing small claims, not to make it easy to splash the cash with impunity in lavish restaurants and boutique hotels.

“Worryingly, since 2011, staff in the Welsh Labour Government have racked up over £9 million in credit card bills.”

A Welsh Government spokesman said the purchases were made by civil servants for ‘official business reasons’.

"The issue of procurement cards is tightly controlled and there are strict rules in place to ensure every transaction is logged and accounted for," he said.

"In addition, all transactions must be separately approved by a senior official.

"Procurement card usage is published on our website every month in order to be open and fully transparent,” they said.

Other buys included over £200,000 on flights; £16,000 to Specsavers, another £8,600 on restaurants and over £5,000 on Uber taxi rides, as well as just over £3,000 on yachting and boating expenses.

Officials also spent near £400 on whisky, £359 on chocolate and £1,000 on an adventure park trip to North Wales.

Despite a £400,000 increase on 2015/16 figures, the Welsh Government said comparisons were could not be made legitimately due to changes in purchasing practices.

Last year, it emerged that government officials spent £7.5m on procurement cards between 2011 and 2016, with a £101 lingerie purchase garnering particular scrutiny, although the ‘fraudulent’ purchase was later repaid.