Gordon Brown slams ‘obscene’ levels of destitution in the UK

Former PM criticises ministers for moral outrage' of systematically shredding' social security system

• Gordon Brown: Grinding child poverty calls for anger - and a plan

Britain is in the throes of a hidden poverty epidemic", with the worst-affected households living in squalor and going without food, heating and everyday basics such as clean clothes and toothpaste, the former UK prime minister Gordon Brown has said.

Brown accused the government of creating a wall of silence around obscene" levels of destitution in the UK and criticised ministers for systematically shredding" a social security system that had once provided a safety net for the poorest.