England’s public health body has significantly damaged its credibility by launching a campaign with a charity funded by the alcohol industry, leading doctors say.

A letter seen by The Telegraph reveals that 46 senior medics, charity leaders and royal colleges have condemned Public Health England for the tie-up with Drinkaware - a charity almost entirely funded by alcohol producers and retailers.

On Tuesday the Government's alcohol adviser, Sir Ian Gilmore, resigned over the agency's decision to work with the charity on a new campaign advocating “Drink Free days”.

Now it has emerged that last month dozens of leading figures working in the field of alcohol and substance misuse pleaded with Duncan Selbie, the chief executive of PHE, to drop the plans.

The letter, whose signatories included the heads of the Royal College of Physicians, Alcohol Concern, the British Liver Trust and the British Medical Association, said the tie-up would “significantly damage the credibility of PHE" and lose the trust of the public.

Accusing Drinkaware of misrepresenting evidence about how alcohol harms health, the letter raises concerns that the charity could “seek to water down” the public health messages of any campaign.