Making his debut speech as Welsh Secretary during September’s Labour Conference, Stephen Kinnock announced a game-changing investment for Wales. Throughout his speech, he highlights how Wales has been overlooked by past governments, something he has experienced first-hand as “a child of Tredegar”.

In response to this, he hopes an investment of £14 billion will open opportunities for Wales, including twelve thousand jobs and seven new train stations. Whilst this is an exciting prospect, what is Kinnock’s investment actually going to deliver for Wales? Is it enough? And what does it mean for us, the students of Wales?

Along with the obs and train stations that will help create opportunities across the country, he has also highlighted more promising uses for the investment. For example, Kinnock will invest £64 million into port infrastructure to support 5,000 jobs in the Celtic Sea.

This is a vital investment as it supports some of Wales’s most skilled workers. Workers who oversee an important aspect of Wales’s economy, as the Celtic Sea is a significant area for offshore wind development.

Whilst this has mostly been put in place to support already existing jobs, it will also create opportunities for young people that have studied and trained in these areas of expertise. Unemployment in Wales is a growing issue, and especially anxiety-inducing for young people. 17% of 16-24 year olds are not in education, employment or training.

Whilst this is an issue across the entire UK, economic inactivity is higher in Wales than the wider UK. Therefore, the promise of 12 thousand jobs is only a small development in employability. An additional 62,500 jobs will be needed to reach the rest of the United Kingdom’s employment level. His investment into transport will also benefit employment through easier connections to the rest of the United Kingdom.

The endless opportunities created by seven new stations is an exciting prospect. He has already secured £455 million from the spending review to use for transport connectivity across Wales. With an improvement in cross-border connectivity, job opportunities will be much less limited for people in Wales.

Kinnock consistently highlights the importance of Wales’s connection to the rest of the United Kingdom. This connection can be strengthened by this investment into transport.

He claims that Plaid Cymru and Reform want to limit this connection, which could create countless opportunities for Wales’s people. Due to Plaid holding up the investment, Kinnock accused them of “sitting on their hands” and stating that “jobs and security were being delayed” because of them.

The parties in England have already put the deals underway, but not Plaid. In response to Kinnock’s comparisons between Plaid and Reform, Plaid politician Liz Saville Roberts stated that Kinnock is “insulting thousands of former labour voters who chose Plaid Cymru in May”.

This includes many of the young people Kinnock seems to be lobbying for with his investment, such as the students of Cardiff who played a large part in voting in three Plaid MS’s in each Cardiff constituency.

It is undeniable that a £14 billion investment will change the lives of countless people living in Wales. But is it enough?

A focus on employability is promising, as it is an issue that has or will affect everyone. It is especially promising for students and young people in Wales as unemployment is quickly growing.

Post-graduate employment will be supported by this investment, which will create more optimism for students heading into the job market. Despite this, a promise of twelve thousand jobs is not sufficient for Wales.

In a country where over 60,000 more jobs are needed to reach the rest of the UK’s employability rate, 12,000 is merely a drop in the ocean. We need more.