DANNY Alexander will claim today that the Lib Dems are the only party with a proper industrial strategy — in a speech at a university’s Margaret Thatcher building.

The Secretary Treasury will use his speech at the Said Business School in Oxford to chase the votes of bosses opposed to an EU referendum.

In the Lib Dem’s latest attempt to distance themselves from their toxic coalition record, he will say the Tories are putting party interests before the national interest by pledging to hold an in-out referendum.

But he also chose his speech at the shrine to Thatcher, who destroyed British industry, to claim the Lib Dems are “the only party with a clear commitment to industrial strategy, to infrastructure and to skills.”

He launched the big business charm offensive after promising yesterday to impose heavy fines on organisations who fail to prevent tax evasion.

The Lib Dems will attempt to create a new offence of “corporate failure to avoid preventing an economic crime” in this Parliament or include it in the party’s general election manifesto, he said.

Labour’s Chris Leslie said nobody will buy his “warm words” in light of the Lib Dem’s record of broken promises on tax.

“Along with the Tories they have totally failed to tackle tax avoidance and cut taxes for millionaires while raising VAT on families and pensioners,” said the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury.

“The amount of uncollected tax has gone up by £3 billion under Danny Alexander and George Osborne.”

Mr Alexander also insisted the Lib Dems will be “come back kids” at the election — but polls suggest he will lose his own seat.