Theresa May has asked Brussels to extend the Brexit deadline to June 30 and has rejected the option of a second referendum.
With little more than a week before the UK is due to leave, Mrs May was forced to ask for an extension after failing to get her divorce deal through Parliament.
Politicians continue to bicker over Brexit, whether to leave at all, whether to hold a second referendum and the nature of a withdrawal agreement.
In a Downing Street address on Wednesday evening, Mrs May blamed MPs for the Brexit impasse, “It is high time we made a decision,” she said. “So far, Parliament has done everything possible to avoid making a choice.”
“Some argue that I am making the wrong choice, and I should ask for a longer extension to the end of the year or beyond, to give more time for politicians to argue over the way forward.
"That would mean asking you to vote in European Elections, nearly three years after our country decided to leave. What kind of message would that send?"
May said that a European election campaign would not help bring not help unite the country and that a second referendum would go against the will of the public.
Earlier on Wednesday, the British prime minister asked the European Union to delay Brexit until June 30 after failing to get her deal through parliament.
Mrs May has said previously that if parliament does not pass her deal, she would be forced to ask for a delay beyond June 30, which would mean the UK has to take part in European elections and Brexit supporters fear that could scupper the whole project.
The EU Commission said any extension would last to May 23 to avoid the UK participating in European elections but that if Britain held the European elections, an extension could be granted to the year end.
Jean-Claude Juncker welcomed the extension request and Donald Tusk, the European Council's president said EU leaders could only agree to a Brexit delay if British MPs support Mrs May's deal in a vote next week.
May requested a short delay as she detailed her plans to launch a third attempt to push her deal through parliament.
Remainers plan to stage a rally in London on Saturday in a bid for a new referendum to reverse the 2016 result.
YouGov reports that 52% of respondents in a new survey would back an extension and that 56% would vote to remain in a second referendum.