More than £4.6bn of British-made bombs and missiles were sold to the Saudis in the first two years of airstrikes which amounts to a an increase of almost 500 per cent.
Figures from the Department for International Trade (DIT) show in the two years leading up to the Yemen war, £33m of ML4 licences covering bombs, missiles and countermeasures were approved.
But in the two years since the start of Saudi bombing in March 2015, the figure increased by 457 per cent to £1.9bn, according to calculations by Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT).
Licences covering aircraft including Eurofighter jets have also risen by 70 per cent to £2.6bn in the same period.
CAAT co-director Tom Barns said the Government has been accelerating sales of “equipment being used to commit atrocities in Yemen” as the pace of Saudi-led air strikes increases.
He told the Independent: “Over the course of this year the situation in Yemen is only getting worse.
“At a time when the UK should at least be putting more consideration into what’s being sold they are giving more and more of these licences.”
A DIT spokesman said: “The UK Government takes its export control responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust arms export control regimes in the world.
“We rigorously examine every application on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. We will not grant a licence if to do so would be inconsistent with these Criteria.
“The Government publishes regular statistics on the value of export licences, but these are not necessarily a measure of actual exports shipped as exporters must re-apply where a licence is unused. This results in double counting.”
The United Nations said air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition were the main cause of almost 5,295 civilian deaths and 8,873 casualties confirmed so far, warning that the real figure is “likely to be far higher”.
British-made bombs have been found at the scene of bombings deemed to violate international law but the UK has continued its political and material support for Riyadh’s campaign.
The High Court has ruled that arms exports to Saudi Arabia are legal because the available evidence did not prove “a clear risk that the items might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law”.
The British Government has emphasised that it is not a member of the Saudi-led coalition or party to the conflict, but reinstated its support for its intervention to “deter aggression by the Houthis and allow for the return of the legitimate Yemeni Government”.
But Amnesty International UK said a total halt to British arms exports to Saudi Arabia was “long overdue”.
Polly Truscott, its foreign affairs analyst, told the Independent: “When the High Court made its very disappointing ruling in the summer, we said there was a clear human rights need for the UK and other governments to stop selling arms to the Saudi coalition unless they were willing to risk becoming a party to terrible crimes in Yemen.
“These figures are a further reminder of how the UK Government is apparently more interested in the financial bottom line for the arms industry, than in the need to protect civilians.”