[1] The constituency returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system.

Charles Orr-Ewing had been Unionist MP for the seat of Ayr Burghs since the 1895 general election.

The most prominent issue of the day was the campaign that leading Unionist, Joseph Chamberlain was running to get his government to introduce protectionist trade measures.

However, the Unionist candidate, George Younger, was a committed supporter of Free Trade rather than Tariff Reform.

The league nevertheless set up operations in the constituency to promote the issue which made the Unionist message in the campaign confusing.