Northern mayors and council leaders want more investment in transport after figures showed train services have got worse, despite the push of a Northern Powerhouse.
Cities like Leeds, Sheffield and Hull were encouraged to work together both in rivalling London and the South East and to "take on the world", with more jobs and opportunities.
But five years on, doubt has been cast on just how successful the project has been, with transport being one key area that officials want to improve.
The number of cancelled and significantly late trains on TransPennine Express and Northern franchises more than doubled from 20,000 in 2014-15 to 47,000 in 2018-19. It meant that almost one in every 20 services was either cancelled or more than 30 minutes late arriving at its destination.
Mayor of the Sheffield City Region Dan Jarvis, said the government should see the north as "an asset, not a liability" and said Westminster had "let the north down".
Judith Blake, leader of Leeds City Council, said: "The northern authorities are working much more closely together and that's a real benefit.
"The real difficulty we have is that (transport) schemes are delayed and there's a real lack of commitment to rebalancing the economy."
