Violent attacks committed by young women have reached record levels, statistics show.

The shocking rise has been blamed by some critics on "ladette" culture and links binge drinking to the rise in violent crime.

Figures from the Ministry of Justice reveal the number of women arrested for "violence against the person" in England and Wales has shot up from 78,900 in 2005/06 to 87,200 in 2006/07.

This equates to 240 female arrests each day and it is the first time more women have been arrested for suspected violent crimes than for theft and handling stolen goods.

The category includes offences ranging from street brawls to grievous bodily harm and murder.

The report, which was released on the internet last night, reveals that women aged 21 and over were the age group with the biggest number arrested for violent offences with 52,800, while 23,000 women aged 10 to 17 were arrested and those aged 18 to 20 accounted for 11,200 arrests.

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said: "These figures show an alarming rise in the number of violent offences committed by women, fuelled by this Government's lax approach to binge drinking."

The number of males arrested for violent crimes has also risen by more than 31,000 since 2005/06, with males aged 21 and over the greater offenders.

It also reflects the trend in young people to commit offences relating to theft and handling stolen goods.

In 2006/07, 263,400 males were arrested in connection with these charges, while 80,200 females were arrested for similar offences in that year.

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