UK Government ministers have not spoken to Scotland’s Brexit Secretary about key talks on the country’s departure from the EU for six weeks, MSPs have heard.

Michael Russell explained the group that brings the devolved governments together with UK ministers to discuss Brexit has not met since the end of January.

He said it would be possible to hold a virtual meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee (EU Negotiations) (JMC EN) – but this “simply has not happened”.

Russell spoke after the latest round of talks between the UK and the EU ended, with the chief European negotiator describing these as “disappointing”. Michel Barnier warned the “clock was ticking” and said the UK cannot both slow down trade talks on key areas while refusing to agree to extend the transition period.

Russell, speaking to MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s new Covid-19 Committee, said with politicians across the UK currently focused on dealing with the pandemic, he does “not see where the resource is” for the UK to continue with the talks.

He said pushing ahead with the negotiations in the midst of the outbreak is the “wrong decision”.

“We are trying to say ‘look, we don’t agree with Brexit, we accept it is probably going to happen but you can’t do it at this stage’,” he said.

“It really is time that they started listening to this.”

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Russell has already urged UK ministers to seek an extension to the Brexit transition period – with the EU departure scheduled to take place at the end of December. “The UK Government could without any difficulty at all request an extension of up to two years,” he told MSPs.

“That would avoid the impact on business and industry of having to cope with an enormous set of changes from the autumn and the winter and into next year.”

MP Alyn Smith has joined the calls for a two-year extension, saying it would be unthinkable for the Tory Government to “hammer the economy” with a hard Brexit at exactly the time when it will need all the help it can get during the coronavirus crisis and its eventual aftermath.

He said: “Tory ministers must cast aside the Brexit dogma, take their responsibilities seriously, and agree an extension of the maximum two years on offer, so we can get to the other side of this emergency.

“Securing an extension is the only responsible option. Crashing out of the EU with a bad deal or no deal this year would be the final blow for many businesses that are already struggling to survive – and it would leave people even poorer and worse off at a time of greatest need.”

Russell said it is “deeply unsatisfactory” that a number of issues which involve devolved responsibilities have been included in the latest negotiations but the Scottish Government had “not been consulted in the slightest about them”.

He told the committee: “I have an outstanding request to the UK Government for consultation between our fisheries officials and their fisheries negotiators, which is essential, and it has not been implemented.

“The JMC EN has not met since the last week in January. It could meet virtually ... it simply hasn’t happened.

“Moreover, I haven’t spoken to a UK Government minister on this matter in six weeks. I have been requesting a discussion about this, we’ve not had one.”