Section 9 of the Principal Act is amended by omitting subsection (4) and substituting the following subsections:

(4)  In resentencing an existing life prisoner under this Part –

(a) the court is not to take into account the applicant's conduct as a life prisoner under the original sentence; but

(b) the court may take into account the term of any other sentence of imprisonment that the applicant, since becoming a life prisoner, has been subject to.

(5)  If the court exercises its discretion under subsection (4)(b) , it may order that the sentence it imposes under subsection (1) is to commence at a date later than the date on which the original sentence was imposed.

(6)  Subsection (5) applies despite anything to the contrary in the Sentencing Act 1997 .