THE multibillion-pound arms trade fuelling Saudi Arabia’s attacks on Yemen is worth just 50p per head for every UK citizen, according to a charity.

Today War Child, which aids youngsters affected by conflict, releases new research on the domestic impact of international deals struck by British weapons firms and approved by Westminster.

The arms industry has earned revenues of about £6 billion from deals with the Gulf kingdom since it intervened in the Yemen conflict, but the charity says companies involved have paid an estimated £30 million in corporation tax.

The sum works out at less than 50p per head towards public services.

War Child says companies including Raytheon, which has premises in Glenrothes, and BAE Systems, which operates from sites including Dunfermline, have made an estimated £600m.

The charity says its findings “expose the disparity between the economic benefit to the UK of the so-called lucrative industry versus the revenues and profits to those within it”.

The National asked the UK Government to comment on the claims last night.

We asked if the figures presented by the charity were accurate and, if not, what the correct numbers should be. We also asked officials to state the broader value of the arms trade to the UK in the light of last week’s comment by Defence Secretary Michael Fallon that the British arms industry should pursue a bigger share of the international market after Brexit.

However, we did not receive answers to our questions, with a spokesperson for the Department for International Trade saying instead: “The UK Government takes its defence export responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust 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.”

The UK is one of the biggest aid donors to Yemen, with the Department for International Development increasing its spend there to £139m this year.

According to the War Child figure, this sum is more than four times what than the Treasury earns from the companies making the munitions used there.

Schools, hospitals and houses have been attacked during a two-year conflict that has claimed the lives of an estimated 1,300 children and fuelled the worst cholera outbreak since records began.

Wedding and funeral parties have also been attacked, with atrocities committed by both the Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels.

However, the UN says the coalition has “directly targeted” civilians in what amounts to a breach of international law. Despite this, Westminster has resisted repeated calls to suspend arms sales to coalition members.

The War Child report states: “The Saudi-led coalition is emboldened to carry out these attacks by the military and diplomatic support it receives from countries like the UK.

“Yet despite this crisis, and evidence that British weapons are being used to violate international humanitarian law in Yemen, the UK Government continues to grant export licences for arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

“The only winners from this immoral trade are the big arms companies and their shareholders, reaping huge profits while children are killed, disfigured and starved to death. This must stop.”

Rob Williams, head of War Child UK, said: “I find it morally repugnant that the UK Government is allowing companies to make killer profits from the deaths of innocent children. Thousands of children have died and millions more are at risk. The British government is shamefully complicit in their suffering and justifies it with promises of economic prosperity, which this report embarrassingly discredits.”