THE Government's planned £200 million cuts to public health budgets will harm the nation's health, a number of leading charities and organisations have warned.

In a letter to The Times, charities including Macmillan Cancer Support, Diabetes UK and the British Heart Foundation said the cuts would also hamper attempts to reduce cost pressures in the long-term.

Chancellor George Osborne announced the move last month, which will see money slashed from council budgets, leading to concerns it will affect obesity prevention and weight loss schemes as well as alcohol misuse programmes.

Other services funded by local authorities' public health budgets include school nursing, screening programmes, drug and substance misuse programmes and sexual health schemes.

For the full story and to see the complete letter, click here.

The letter, which has also been signed by the Royal Society for Public Health, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the Royal College of Midwives, calls for the Government to recognise that the cuts would be "deeply counter-productive to the health of our nation".