David Ruffley, the Tory MP, said the outfits first seen in Guantánamo Bay would make the criminals feel ashamed.

Mr Ruffley told the Commons yesterday that he hoped the Justice Department was not going "soft".

During a hot-tempered debate MPs said the community payback scheme was too lenient. As a result Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, is drawing up proposals for a tougher scheme.

Mr Ruffley said: "I am told that under community payback, offenders might wear a yellow vest with the words 'community payback' on the back and that these can be removed if the probation staff think it appropriate."

The MP for Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, proposed orange dayglo boiler suits with the word "offender" on the back to "inculcate some sense of shame" and make these tough sentences not the soft ones we've had until now.

Jeremy Wright, the justice minister, said the Government was determined to ensure community sentences delivered punishment as well as rehabilitation.

New laws being prepared by the government would require courts to include a punitive element in community orders.

He said he had a "good deal of sympathy" with Mr Ruffley's comments.