Ever since former-Chancellor George Osborne launched the Northern Powerhouse scheme in 2014, UK government officials have tried hard to sound serious about making the UK’s economy less dependent on London.

Many voices have called for more investment in transport networks outside of the capital to achieve this rebalancing. But to date there has been far more talk than action.

A least one rail project in the north of England is moving forward. Work began in July on a $19 million scheme to upgrade a 2.3km section of track near Runcorn that would allow direct services between Liverpool and North Wales for the first time in years.

However, many other projects have fallen by the wayside. On the last day of Parliament before the summer recess, the government axed plans to electrify three major railway lines outside of the south-east of the UK (the Cardiff-to-Swansea section of the Great Western network, the Midland mainline and the Oxenholme-to-Windermere line in the Lake District).

These developments have raised existing doubts over the electrification of the TransPennine route between Manchester and Leeds, a project that plays a critical role in the Northern Powerhouse scheme.

In the same month these regional projects were being scrapped, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling offered support to London’s £31 billion ($41 billion) Crossrail 2 scheme. Crossrail 1 is already under construction and is estimated to cost £14.8 billion.

Some MPs have reacted strongly, demanding a jump-start for the Northern Powerhouse and accusing the government of favouring investments in London.

Two lobby groups (Business North and IPPR North), representing thousands of companies, have written separate letters to ministers calling for an end to the north-south investment divide. IPPR North says the region would have received £59 billion more over the past decade if it was funded at London levels. It also states that public spending in the past 10 years was on average £282 per head in the north, compared to a national average of £345 per head, and £680 per head in London.

Though Chancellor Philip Hammond assured metro mayors of Greater Manchester, Liverpool and the Tees Valley on 4 September that the Northern Powerhouse remained ‘right at the top of our agenda’, he declined to confirm whether there would be any proposals to support it in the upcoming autumn budget.

A cynic might suggest that actually Brexit negotiations are clearly top of the government’s agenda, and that there is little evidence the Northern Powerhouse is on it at all.