good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. five bulgarian nationals have been sentenced to a total of 25 years in prison after being convicted of the biggest benefit fraud ever in britain. the gang stole almost £54 million by making thousands of fraudulent claims for universal credit. the judge said they d systemically plundered the state s support mechanism to steal eye watering sums. our social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports. taxpayers money thrown around like confetti by a multi million pound fraudster. the scale of the scam astonished investigators. now the gang behind it have been sentenced. the full story of britain s biggest benefit fraud can be told. prosecutors say thousands of people were flown from bulgaria to london, that ids were then used to make claims for the main benefit universal credit. police officers. when the fraudsters various premises were raided, investigators found an extraordinary amount of evidence. 900 mobile phones
challenges for customers to earn bonus points could be pushing people to spend more than they can afford. that s the warning from consumer groups. i ll be taking a look. in sport it s the start of a new adventure for emma hayes. we hear how she s settling in to her new manager role in the united states as she prepares to lead them into the olympics this summer. to lead them into the quite to lead them into the a cloudy start this morning. some quite a cloudy start this morning. some outbreaks of rain out there, but things should brighten up. a bit of sunshine developing in the afternoon. all of the details shortly. it s thursday 30th may. our main story. the conservatives and labour have both ruled out increasing vat if they are elected in five weeks time. the promises have raised questions about how the parties will fund their spending plans, and deliver on their commitments if they win the elction. our political correspondent damian grammaticas has this report. midnight