In September 2019, Watson made a speech urging Labour to become a pro-remain party, in order to win back disaffected remain voters. He has been quoted by "The Guardian" as saying that "most of those who've deserted us over our Brexit policy did so with deep regret and would greatly prefer to come back; they just want us to take an unequivocal position that, whatever happens, we'll fight to remain, and to sound like we mean it." Jeremy Corbyn rejected his proposition, saying that Labour would continue to represent both sides of the Brexit divide.