GORDON Brown’s new plan to prevent Scottish independence and save the Union has been summarily dismissed by the SNP.

The former prime minister unveiled a fresh strategy to prevent independence after pro-Yes parties won an increased majority in the Holyrood election.

He announced his think tank, Our Scottish Future, will become a "campaigning movement" to make the "positive, progressive and patriotic case for Scotland in Britain".

The group will make the case for a "reformed" UK, Brown said, and target "middle Scotland" – the 40% of Scots who he believes are not strongly committed to either the Union or independence.

However, the former Better Together chief’s plans have been given short shrift by the SNP.

Depute leader Keith Brown told The National: "Gordon Brown is the very last person anyone in Scotland should be listening to. He told people to vote No in 2014, and that has ensured continued Tory austerity, Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, and Brexit imposed on Scotland against our will – a Brexit which Gordon Brown's Labour Party now supports.

“And nothing that Labour are proposing would protect Scotland from policies like Brexit, austerity and a Westminster Tory power grab – only independence can do that.”

The National:

READ MORE: Gordon Brown launches his new masterplan to save the Union

He added: “Ironically, Gordon Brown has launched a campaign about Scotland's future, but he is working hand in hand with Boris Johnson to try to deny the people of Scotland the democratic opportunity to choose it – despite an overwhelming mandate for an independence referendum in the election and clear majority support in the newly elected Scottish Parliament.

"It is not for any politician to decide the future of Scotland – it must and will be a choice for the people of Scotland."

Setting out his new vision for Unionism, Brown also complained that Boris Johnson's "muscular” strategy was "at odds with mainstream Scottish opinion".

He added that the Prime Minister "ends up asserting Britishness in competition with Scottishness".