The UK government has sent £200m in aid to war-torn Yemen at the same time as it sold almost £4bn in arms to Saudi Arabia which is bombarding the country, new figures have revealed.

A Saudi-led coalition has backed the Yemeni government in a civil war against Houthi rebels in the north of the country which began in 2015. The bombing campaign has led to 5000 civilian deaths, a quarter of them children, and left nearly 9,000 injured, according to the United Nations. More than 20 million people require humanitarian assistance and a cholera outbreak is believed to have affected 600,000 people since April.

The UN documented violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by the coalition in a report released this month. There have been airstrikes on markets, hospitals, schools, residential areas and funeral gatherings, prohibited weapons such as cluster bombs used and children recruited as soldiers, according to the report.

The SNP has obtained figures from the House of Commons Library – which provides impartial information and research services for MPs – showing that the UK has provided £202m in aid assistance to Yemen since 2015 while selling arms worth £3.8bn to Saudi Arabia

The SNP’s International Affairs spokesman Stephen Gethins, who obtained the figures, said it is “yet another stain” on the UK government’s foreign policy record.

He said: “You have the unfolding man-made humanitarian disaster caused by war and we’re exacerbating that and profiting from it. For our humanitarian response to be dwarfed by our arms sales to one of the combatants in that war strikes me as extraordinary and does down any idea of an ethical UK foreign policy. We have a responsibility to stop selling arms to the Saudis while this is unfolding, not profit from that conflict.”

The criticism follows comments by Michael Fallon, the UK’s Defence Secretary, who told delegates at the world’s biggest arms fair in London that a post-Brexit UK will look to “spread our wings” to compete in the international arms market.

Earlier this year the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) launched a high court bid to halt UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia over humanitarian concerns. UK and EU arms sales rules state that export licences cannot be granted if there is a “clear risk” that the equipment could be used to break international humanitarian law. Licences are rubber stamped by the secretary of state for international trade, Liam Fox.

CAAT secured a judicial review of the government’s decision to continue granting weapons-export licences to Saudi Arabia despite widespread concern over civilian deaths in Yemen. The High Court concluded that Britain acted lawfully over weapons sales.

Gethins said: “The UK government cannot play a genuine role in finding an end to the war in Yemen with its current policy of lucrative arms sales with one hand and meagre aid assistance with the other hand as a counter-reaction. The strategy marks yet another stain on the UK government’s foreign policy record.

“The only way we can achieve a meaningful and lasting political solution is by pushing diplomatic efforts to bring all sides together, not by the UK government’s obsessive agenda of arming regimes accused of war crimes.

“There is an immediate and urgent need for the UK government to reverse its role – to end the arms sales and increase its funding towards aid assistance to people who are in dire need of it.

“As well as the humanitarian aspect, the UK government can, and should, play a political role, and learn lessons from their intervention in Libya to ensure that Yemen does not follow in its footsteps leaving a vacuum that allows instability to fester.”

A spokeswoman for the UK Government said: "The UK is the third largest donor to Yemen, having committed over £139 million in UK aid this year. We are also playing a leading role in diplomatic efforts to achieve a political solution which can end the conflict and the terrible humanitarian suffering, including building support for the UN Special Envoy's proposals for peace.

"The intervention by the Saudi Arabian led coalition came at the request of Yemen's internationally-recognised President, whose Government was forced to flee following a violent takeover by the Houthi rebel group. Since then rebels have launched missile attacks into Saudi Arabia and committed serious human rights violations.

"UK defence exports are kept under careful and continual review."