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Katie Watts

Katie Watts

Campaigns & Policy Lead

Katie is MSE's lead campaigner, in charge of making sure our relationships with the Government, Parliament, regulators, industry bodies and other consumer champions lead to important changes for consumers. She works alongside Martin Lewis and the MSE team to make sure consumers' voices are heard in the corridors of power and to tackle unfairness and injustices they face. Katie likes to say that her job is right there at the top of our website – "fighting your corner".

Turning her hand to all of MSE's key areas, Katie's work has led to some massive changes for the pound in your pocket. Her role in key campaigns has led to improvements in energy bill support, take-up of a crucial Council Tax discount for the most vulnerable, and increased options for those struggling with mortgage payments. Right now she is working to get buy now, pay later regulated, to bring down costly energy standing charges, to end the Lifetime ISA penalty for some first-time buyers, and to make Carer's Allowance and Child Benefit fairer – among many other things.

She is particularly passionate about ending the Wild West of scams and fraud, and tackling fuel poverty. She also likes to speak to women and girls about why and how we can work to close the women's personal finance and pensions gap.

Katie joined MSE in 2016, heading up our communications, PR and social media until she took on the campaigns role in 2022. She can also be found on the airwaves, advocating for consumers on the likes of BBC News, ITV News and more. Before that she worked in PR, representing energy, tech and consumer retail companies. She also worked for a children's safeguarding charity and still supports its work today.

In her free time, Katie is a keen open water swimmer and is a big fan of Golden Age Hollywood movies – Singin' In The Rain is her favourite. She also sits on the grant application panel for the MSE Charity and in 2023, she and five others from MSE raised thousands of pounds for the charity CALM by hiking 100km in Cambodia.

Latest from Katie Watts

Martin Lewis “Scam Ad” van outside the Houses of Parliament.
The Online Safety Act has today become law, after years of campaigning by Martin Lewis, MSE, and many other consumer groups and charities. This means that, for the first time, online platforms have a legal duty to prevent and take down scam advertising – which leads thousands of people to hand over life-changing amounts of cash to criminals. While there is still work to be done, this new legislation is a momentous step forward in the battle against online scam ads.
28 March 2025
A warning sign hovering above a laptop keyboard and a pair of hands typing.
Almost half of young people aged 8-17 have already been scammed online – including, shockingly, children as young as eight – with nearly one in 10 actually losing money to an online scam.
11 February 2025
Graduate in cap and gown
Universities in England will be able to charge full-time undergraduate students up to £9,535 a year from 2025/26, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has announced today (Monday 4 November). Student living loans, also known as maintenance loans, will also rise by 3.1%, in a move MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis called "better than nowt".
31 January 2025
Chancellor Rachel Reeves carrying a red folder
At MSE, we're proud to be always fighting consumers' corner (it's right there at the top of our website). The lead-up to the Budget is a key opportunity to tell the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, what we want to see in her first Budget of the new Labour Government.
22 October 2024
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From energy bills to benefits, here's what the incoming Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has promised on the big issues affecting the pound in your pocket. It comes as Labour will form the next UK Government after the party won a majority in the House of Commons following the general election on 4 July. 
4 July 2024
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From online scams to Carer's Allowance, we round up the most interesting responses from the seven main party leaders on six key consumer issues. Their answers form part of their replies to our Leaders' Debate ahead of the general election on Thursday 4 July. 
26 June 2024
Campaign wins, successes and milestones – how we've been fighting your corner in 2023
"Cutting your costs, fighting your corner." This – our mission – has been at the heart of everything we do for 20 years and counting.
15 August 2023
If you don’t follow the workings of Parliament as closely as we do at MSE, the Budget – being held on Wednesday 15th March – is a statement that the Chancellor gives to Parliament once a year on behalf of the Treasury, providing economic forecasts but also, importantly, the Government’s key policies on the nation’s finances.
7 March 2023
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January saw MSE Forum's third Ask An Expert event, this time themed on scams. Our resident scams guru MSE Katie took on MSE Forumites' questions, including how to tell if a crypto platform is legit and what to do to get your money back if you've been scammed.
7 February 2023
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If you get a text message from the Metropolitan Police in the next 48 hours asking for help fighting fraud, don't ignore it. The organisation is sending text messages to 70,000 people who may have been targeted by fraudsters using a sophisticated online tool to spoof the phone numbers of legitimate companies such as banks. 
24 November 2022
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My name is Katie and I’m a shopaholic.  It may surprise you to know that someone at MSE Towers can be guilty of spending on things they don’t need. But as with everyone, we all have money-saving work to do. For those with a spending habit, this season can be particularly difficult, as new products are launched, sales are pushed at you from every angle, and discounts are deeper than at any other time of year. For those with mental health challenges, it’s even worse.
22 November 2022
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MoneySavingExpert.com is calling on 18 UK international airports to offer free drinking water fountains to passengers in their departure lounges.
26 July 2017