There are a couple of caveats. One was mentioned in the story and that is that there is a natural increase after the travel restrictions from COVID 19 were lifted. There is also the issue that we are taking in Ukrainian refugees. I say "issue" but it isn't really an issue - we should be taking them in.
The other caveat is that it is very difficult to count the people who are emigrating from the UK. If you are planning to come and live here, you need to fill in various forms so it is quite easy to count you (as long as you are coming here legally, of course). If you are leaving, there's no reason to tell anybody. The ONS arrives at an estimate of emigration by doing surveys at major exit points (airports and ports).
I have to admit that I find it surprising that people still want to come here. Aside from the fact that it is now harder for EU citizens to get in, the country cannot be a more attractive place for foreigners than it was in 2015 now that we've tanked our economy and a fair percentage of the population has been shown to be quite racist.
Governments generally like immigration. Immigrants are cheaper to employ than the natives and less of a burden on the state. This government only pretends to be against immigration because it plays well to the voters.
