Poverty will be more acute in the UK under Theresa May than it was under Margaret Thatcher, according to Gordon Brown.

The former prime minister claimed the Tories and the SNP were more concerned with their "dogmatic positions" over tackling poverty and inequality.

In a speech in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Mr Brown argued that social justice should be the key issue of the General Election.

But voters are caught between the "extremes" of two parties, he said.

The former chancellor drew on "shocking" forecasts from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) suggesting that a record 15.7 million Britons will be in poverty by 2022 - with five million children affected.

"That is more poverty than even under Mrs Thatcher. Mrs May's Britain will have more poverty and inequality than even the poverty we saw in the Thatcher/Major years," Mr Brown said.

"She says she wants to unite the country, she will create a country that is more divided economically and more socially polarised than at any time in our history in the last 50 years."

According to the same statistics, the number of Scots in poverty will reach 1.2 million over the next five years, with 320,000 children impacted.

He accused the SNP of taking "no action" and pursuing "the same policy as the Tories" on issues such as topping up child benefit, child tax credits and pension benefits.

He said: "The SNP like to lecture others about moral responsibility where it is issues over which they've got no control.

"It's time they accepted moral responsibility for concerns or problems over which they have control.

"When they have the power they refuse to act, they refuse to take responsibility, they simply want to blame someone else.

"It's an obsession with independence that prevents them taking the action that is necessary to deal with the issues that concern the everyday lives of people in Scotland."

The former prime minister argued that the SNP were "the same as the Tories" and had "failed" to deal with education, health and the economy.

"Here we are, two extremes at this election. We've got a Conservative party that's obsessed about Europe and forgets about the needs and aspirations of the Scottish people," he said.