It would mean that anyone arrested for shoplifting or drink driving could end up on the national DNA data base.

 A new "three-strikes and you're out" law for persistent burglars also takes effect this week and Mr Blair and Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, will highlight the publication of new performance tables for police forces with a visit to a police station in Kent today. Crime has fallen by 32 per cent in Kent over the past five years and the Government hopes the league tables will put pressure on other forces to improve their performance.

 Mr Blair will encourage them to follow the example of the Metropolitan Police, which has started taking DNA samples from everyone arrested for offences carrying a prison term. At present, the practice is to take samples from those arrested for violent crime, burglary or sexual offences. The Government is spending £34 million on establishing a DNA data base, which will carry details of an individual's genetic profile.

 Mr Blair will say: "More testing will help solve more crimes and catch more criminals, and not just more sexual offenders. It will help cut car crime. A single hair left in a stolen car is enough to identify the thief. Last year, 14,000 matches were made."

 Mr Straw yesterday confirmed that the Government will be extending the use of tagging for offenders, who are kept under curfew in their homes instead of prison, and the "three strikes" rule for burglars. Under the new rules, any burglar convicted three times of housebreaking will automatically be jailed for three years.

 Only convictions secured after the new law takes effect on Wednesday will count towards the three strikes - meaning it could be a year or more before the first criminals fall foul of its provisions. The move is predicted to lead to 4,000 more burglars being jailed over the next 10 years.

 At the moment, one in four burglars convicted for a third time avoids going to jail and those imprisoned face an average of 18 months inside.

 The measure was passed by the previous Tory government in a Bill which also brought in mandatory life sentences for repeat violent and sexual criminals - which are already taking effect. Judges will have the discretion to impose a lower sentence in exceptional circumstances - but will have to justify their decisions.

 Opponents have criticised the measure as little more than posturing, claiming prevention measures are far more effective in cutting crime than locking up offenders. The National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders said the amount of money needed to jail 4,000 offenders over 10 years could stop 10 times as many burglaries if invested in crime prevention.

 Tories have also accused the Government of seizing on a Tory measure which Labour had previously opposed.

 Mr Straw said the Government was spending millions of pounds reducing crime. He said: "Our approach to burglary makes it clear that we will both punish persistent burglars and act to prevent burglary in the first place. If someone continues to commit burglaries, the public deserves to be protected from them."