Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Aspirin & fish oil cut cancer
Tories reported for ‘misleading’ UC ads claims
TAKING aspirin and fish oil pills together could cut the risk of bowel cancer, research says.
A daily dose of either reduced the number of polyps in patients at high risk by more than 20%.
But Leeds University found taking both together had an even greater effect. MORE women are having to resort to prostitution as the Universal Credit shambles plunges them further into desperate poverty.
Charities have reported increasing numbers turning to sex work as a direct result of problems with the new payment which rolls six existing benefits into one.
Critics say two in five families – 3.2 million households – will be around £52 a week worse off under the system.
New claimants have to wait at least five weeks before they get any money – forcing many to turn elsewhere for desperately needed cash.
Single mum Julie from Merseyside said she had slept with a man for cash after an eight-week delay for her first Universal Credit payment.
She said she reluctantly took the step to get £30. Her bills are £800 a month but she receives £317 a month in benefits and has rent arrears of £1,000.
She said: “I’m ashamed to admit I’ve slept with a guy for money. I’ve only done that twice when I was really, really desperate and I won’t do it again.
“It’s something I never, ever thought I would ever be capable of doing. I just didn’t think it was in me as a person.
“So I’m very disappointed in myself and ashamed of myself. I had to use foodbanks. I’ve never been in that situation in my life. I’ve really struggled.”
She told the BBC: “It definitely wasn’t a decision I took lightly. I was so angry with myself afterwards. But I’ve been put in that situation and I had no choice.”
Campaigners the English Collective of Prostitutes said as many as 12 women in the last two months have told them their main reason for turning to sex work was Universal Credit problems.
Spokeswoman Niki Adams said: “This is a policy which promotes prostitution.
“The women coming to us are raising issues with the delay in paying benefits, the hostile environment where they are trying to apply and get money, and then the sanctions which are applied.
“In the UK, 92% of sex workers are women and 70% are mothers – many of them single mothers. If mothers are being left without any income they won’t stand by and let their children go hungry or get by without any shoes.”
The group’s centre in Camden, North London, has seen an increase in women struggling with benefits as Universal Credit is introduced in the area.
Angela Murphy, of the Tomorrow’s Women charity in the Wirral, told the BBC: “The delay is massive, how are you supposed to cope? So people think, ‘I’ll go out, do a bit of sex work, it’s a quick fix’. But then they get trapped.”
The Mirror reported last week how women in Leeds were turning to sex work because of welfare cuts.
One 29-year-old mum-of-two told us a cut in benefits forced her on to the THE Tory Government has been reported to the advertising watchdog for “deeply misleading” claims about Universal Credit.
A radio ad boasts the six-in-one benefit “changes automatically” if your wages change, “giving you one less thing to worry about”.
But Labour MP Neil Coyle, on the Work and Pensions Committee, claims this is “simply untrue”.
He said struggling families must update online journals and thousands have reported glitches in the way UC calculates wages.
Mr Coyle added employers must update the Department for Work and Pensions and said many fail to.
His told the Advertising Standards Authority: “The DWP radio ad ignores the reality of the problem and is deeply misleading, with potentially disastrous consequences for thousands of people.
“I do not think DWP should be able to keep making such a misleading claim and hope ASA can prevent the ad being broadcast.”
And he wrote to Tory welfare chief Amber Rudd: “I’m concerned that the Department is attempting to ‘spin’ UC, rather than recognise and address the very serious problems within the system.”
The DWP said: “If a claimant’s wages change, their UC payment will automatically adjust. Our radio adverts are accurate and demonstrate the ways UC is a better benefit than the old system.” streets. She said: “They took £72 a week off me. My kids are nine and one, I need to get school uniform for the eldest.”
One 30-year-old mother said: “I’ve got no criminal record and I don’t take drugs. I’ve never stolen anything in my