The Conservative Party has launched a renewed attack on the government's controversial DNA database, after new figures showed that 40,000 people a month are being added to the list.

The database has had over 300,000 profiles added since December last year, bringing the total to more than 5.5 million, despite the practice being ruled illegal by the European Union.

In December, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that two British citizens should not have their DNA records retained in the database as both were innocent of any crime, effectively making the system of DNA retention for innocent citizens in England and Wales illegal.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling has accused the government of "dragging its feet" on the matter.

"The government still doesn't seem to get it about the DNA database," he said. "It is clearly illegal to maintain the records of innocent people, but they are dragging their feet in dealing with the problem."

The Conservative Party claimed that it would adopt a system similar to that in Scotland, where DNA records of those not convicted of an offence are retained only if the charges relate to a violent or sexual crime.

In these cases, DNA profiles can be retained for a maximum of five years, subject to judicial oversight, said the Conservatives.