FORMER Prime Minister Gordon Brown will today tell a major business conference that new powers for the Scottish Parliament should be used to wage war on poverty, as the country's largest council sets out new incentives to reward socially responsible employers.

Mr Brown, in his first major speech in Scotland since the independence referendum, will tell delegates at the State Of The City Economy Conference in Glasgow that deep divisions are hurting Scotland currently, but that the country could unite and become the education and innovation capital of Europe.

He is expected to say: "Someone, somewhere, with some vision of the future and some sense of what Scots can agree upon, must demonstrate that we can break free of the deep divisions that are hurting Scotland and show how Scottish people can unite around a bold, radical and innovative programme of social and economic change that respects the result of the referendum - more powers for Scotland within the UK.

"While the SNP's answer to globalisation, slow growth, poverty and inequality is always 'independence'; the better answer is global co-operation, investment in education and innovation, a strategy for full employment and the empowerment of poor communities through redistribution of resources to them. And these policies are best achieved by a strong Scottish Parliament but not losing the benefits we have by being part of the UK."

Mr Brown will go on to outline details of a £200m scheme, paid for by a UK-levied bankers' bonus tax, designed to combat youth unemployment.

Meanwhile, Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson will announce at the same event that the authority will overhaul its procurement policy to hand socially responsible employers an advantage when bidding for council work.

He will be announce that firms that pay the living wage, offer benefits to the community, do not employ staff on zero hours contracts and have no history of blacklisting will be rewarded through the contract scoring process.