The SNP was forced on to the back foot on law and order yesterday after new figures revealed Scotland's prison population is at an all-time high and that its much-trumpeted plans for a boost in police numbers have so far failed to materialise.

Scotland's prison population passed 8,000 for the first time this week, an increase of 22 per cent over the past ten years. The statistics underline the scale of the crisis affecting the prison system, which is designed to house 6,000 inmates.

The Justice Minister, Kenny MacAskill, has repeatedly called for fewer people to be sent to prison and more offenders to be given tough community service orders. But the opposition parties yesterday seized on the figures to claim that the Nationalists are failing to get to grips with the crisis engulfing the Scottish prison system.

Michael McMahon, the Labour MSP, said the figures showed the Government was failing on crime. “Prisons are bursting at the seams and every community in Scotland lives in fear that serious offenders will be released back on to the streets without serving a full sentence,” he said.

“Instead of proposing to empty our prisons, Kenny MacAskill should focus on keeping our communities safe and build more of them.”

Mr MacAskill is committed to building three new jails to help to deal with the burgeoning prison population. However, he also wants a reduction in the number of less serious offenders being given custodial sentences.

His call was backed earlier in the year by the Prisons Commission, headed by the former Labour First Minister Henry McLeish.

The Tories yesterday cautioned Mr MacAskill against using the latest figures as an excuse for going soft on crime. The Tory MSP Bill Aitken said: “No doubt the Nationalists will abuse these figures to argue their dangerous case that fewer criminals should be sent to prison. That is wrong and against the public interest. Prison numbers will only be properly cut when crime is cut.”

The SNP Government claims that, while overall crime levels in Scotland have reduced in recent years, about 2,000 more people per year are being jailed by the country's courts. In the early 1990s the prison population fluctuated at around 5,000.

Mr MacAskill said: “While crime has fallen in Scotland we continue to lock up more offenders than ever before. This is the absurd situation we inherited. We need to punish offenders but also tackle the underlying causes of crime.”

The Scottish Government figures released yesterday revealed the average prison population over the past year was 7,376.

They also showed a steep rise in the number of prisoners being recalled from supervision or licences of 18 per cent on the previous year, giving an average daily total of 614.

The number of female prisoners went up by 5 per cent to an average daily total of 371, an increase of almost 90 per cent over the past decade.

Sentenced young offenders accounted for 685 of the daily average total, a rise of 6 per cent on the previous year.

Earlier this year the chief inspector of prisons, Andrew McLellan, said that prison overcrowding was making Scotland a more dangerous place.

Scotland's biggest prison, Barlinnie, is running at 50 per cent over capacity, and the majority of inmates share cells - a situation which is mirrored around the country.

The Liberal Democrats last night called on the Government to tackle the “soaring” jail population in light of the statistics. The Lib Dem MSP Margaret Smith said: “If the Scottish Government focused on cutting reoffending rates, the prison population would fall.”

The opposition parties also rounded on the SNP Government on the issue of policing, claiming they were failing to implement an election pledge to increase the number by 1,000. New figures showed there were 16,339 police officers in Scotland at the end of June - a rise of just 74 since the SNP came to power last year.

The Labour leadership hopeful Iain Gray said: “The SNP cannot seriously boast about an extra 74 police officers when they promised 1,000. Even if this is not a blip, which will disappear with police retirements, at this rate it will take the SNP 13 years to keep their promise.”

The Scottish Government pointed out that the figures represented a record level of policing in Scotland and insisted that the pledge of 1,000 extra officers would be met within the lifetime of this parliament.

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