Millennium Dome supremo Lord Falconer has admitted in a statement to parliament that the Greenwich project "has not been a success - and was too ambitious".

The minister with responsibility for the Dome admitted that it was not appropriate for the public sector to manage a large visitor attraction.

Tony Blair has already declared that mistakes have been made over the Dome.

But Lord Falconer said the project had been the "catalyst for the regeneration of the Greenwich peninsular - one of the commission's main objectives in their proposal for a millennium exhibition".

He told peers the "benefits of the Dome have been felt right across the UK" and over £300 million worth of construction contracts have been awarded to UK companies.

He rejected opposition calls to resign over the failure of the Dome saying: "I concede my responsibility in relation to this is to see it through to the end."

Lord Falconer told a fringe meeting at the Labour conference earlier this week that it was the politics of the project rather than its content which had caused the Dome's problems.

The move comes amid continuing controversy over the Dome and the disclosure this week that business experts warned three years ago that the plans were "over-optimistic and risky".

Nevertheless, in June 1997, the Government decided to carry on with it and the Dome has since cost millions in lottery funding to stay open.

Now a leading firm of accountants has said government ministers are unlikely to face prosecution for wrongful trading over the finances of the Dome.

They have dismissed claims in a report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which showed that the Dome was insolvent at the time it was awarded its latest £47 million handout.

It also suggested that directors and ministers could be liable for debts under wrongful trading legislation.

Bruce Mackay, business recovery partner at chartered accountants Baker Tilly, said that even if the Dome were to go into liquidation, any action for wrongful trading would be unlikely to succeed.

Critics of the Government's handling of the whole project will be keen to hear Lord Falconer's statement in the House of Lords and take the opportunity to quiz him on the latest situation.

The latest Dome crisis began during the Parliamentary recess, when the Japanese Nomura group backed out of their plan to buy it, sparking Tory calls for Lord Falconer's resignation.